Bucks owners spend day touring Milwaukee (WISN)
The Milwaukee Bucks’ new owners were in town Thursday taking a tour of Brew City. Marc Lasry and Wes Edens started their day at Cranky Al’s in Wauwatosa. “It’s the first time I’ve ever seen bacon on a donut. I have to admit,” Edens said. They told WISN 12 News reporter Melinda Davenport they’ve run into a lot of Bucks fans. “I think one of the things we’ve been pleasantly surprised about is the passion of all the fans here. It sort of matches our passion about how excited we are about going forward,” Lasry said.
Up to USD50bn available to Asia focused funds… Asia Pacific turns to hedge funds… (HedgeWeek)
Vast private wealth in the region and the rise of several large sovereign-wealth funds has long been an opportunity for global hedge fund managers. Asian investors, though, continue to account for a small portion of industry assets and have proven notoriously hard to win over. Investors in the region currently account for around USD150 billion invested in global hedge funds, Barclays said, a sliver of the roughly USD2.5 trillion managed by the industry. Of the up to USD70 billion the bank estimates will be on the table over the next few years, roughly half would be new assets.
Herbalife battle headed to documentary big screen (USAToday)
The battle between Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) and billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman is moving to a new venue, the big screen. Ted Braun, the award-winning director of Darfur Now, and Glen Zipper, who produced the Academy Award-winning documentary Undefeated, are teaming up to examine the complex world around Herbalife International. The controversial worldwide company, which specializes in nutrition, weight management and skin-care products, has been in the news. In March, the company disclosed it was under Federal Trade Commission investigation.
Is Elliott The Mystery Buyer Of IPG Stock? (WSJ)
The mystery buyer in Interpublic Group stock may have been unmasked: CNBC reported Thursday morning that activist investor Elliott Management could be snapping up IPG stock. Interpublic stock, trading at its highest point in more than a decade, was up another 12 cents. Elliott, a hedge fund run by Paul Singer, is a well known activist who helped spark merger and acquisition activity at a number of big companies last year. That would make Interpublic a logical target for the investor. Interpublic, owner of McCann Worldgroup, FCB and IPG Mediabrands, has long been seen as a takeover target. The company has a market capitalization of about $8 billion.
‘Too Damn Low’ Bond Yields Force Loews CEO Tisch to Buy Stocks Begrudgingly (MoneyNews)
Call it a value investor’s lament. More than five years after the Federal Reserve lowered interest rates almost to zero, Loews Corporation (NYSE:L) Chief Executive Officer Jim Tisch described his frustration with bond yields by borrowing language from a New York political campaign. …The Fed’s efforts to help spur the U.S. economy have invited criticism from investors. Hedge-fund manager David Einhorn has compared the stimulus to eating jelly doughnuts, a habit that can threaten long-term health. Weston Hicks, the CEO of New York-based insurer and investment firm Alleghany Corporation (NYSE:Y), last year likened the central bank to a medieval barber whose ill-advised prescription for every sickness was more bloodletting.
Why Did Seth Klarman’s Hedge Fund Cut Its British Petroleum Position in Half? (Fool)
Seth Klarman‘s Baupost Group has been one of the most successful hedge funds since its founding in 1982, reportedly averaging mid to high teens in annual returns during a period when the market has averaged closer to half that. Klarman has managed these consistently excellent returns by focusing more on preservation of capital and eschewing risk. Let’s take a look at Baupost Group’s activity with energy giant British Petroleum (NYSE: BP ) — the fund sold 44% of its holding sometime in the first quarter.
Palmer Square’s first mutual fund turns 3 (BizJournals)
The three-year mark is an important milestone for an investment fund, and Leawood-based Palmer Square Capital Management’s Absolute Return Fund has now shown proven growth during that time. The fund was Palmer Square’s first mutual fund. The open-ended fund uses a variety of hedge fund strategies such as long/short international and domestic equity, global macro, event-driven credit and convertible bond arbitrage. Today, the fund has about $295 million in assets.
Pimco’s take on market (CNBC)
Citi: Global institutional hedge fund assets to double in five years (PIOnline)
Global institutional investments in hedge funds will jump 107% to $3.566 trillion by the end of 2018 from year-end 2013, a report from Citi Investor Services predicts. The report, which is the result of 138 interviews with hedge fund managers, investment consultants, asset owners and other investors, estimates total worldwide institutional hedge fund assets of $1.721 trillion at the end of 2013, a total of 4.5% of the worldwide institutional assets of $38.651 trillion. The predicted number of $3.566 trillion at year-end 2018 will account for 8% of the predicted worldwide institutional assets.
Activist hedge fund calls on IHG to consider takeover bid (FT)
Activist hedge fund Marcato Capital Management has revealed itself as one of InterContinental Hotels Group’s biggest shareholders and called on the group’s management to seriously consider a takeover bid. Marcato, a San Francisco-based activist fund that owns about 3.8 per cent of IHG, called on management to appoint advisers to look at a tie-up with a larger rival. The move by Marcato makes it the fifth-largest shareholder in IHG and comes after reports that the hotel group spurned a £6bn approach earlier this year.
To Get an A in Philanthropy Class, Give Away $50,000 (NYTimes)
Vinay Sridharan must make it through microeconomic theory and the writings of Proust before the end of his senior year at Northwestern in June. But in one course, the final project is far less abstract: give away $50,000. It is also far more difficult than it may seem. This course in philanthropy, endowed with a grant from a Texas hedge fund manager, requires students to find and investigate nonprofit organizations and, if they stand up to scrutiny, give them a portion of the five-figure cash pot.
Activist investor Casablanca may sue miner Cliffs in proxy fight (Reuters)
An activist investor trying to win control of Cliffs Natural Resources Inc (NYSE:CLF)‘s board said on Thursday it may take the mining company to court over a “proxy put” that could trigger a liquidity crisis. In a regulatory filing last week, Cliffs said it may be forced to repurchase its outstanding senior notes because of a change of control provision on the notes if all six of hedge fund Casablanca Capital’s nominees were elected to its board. Casablanca, which wants to replace Cliffs’ chief executive and separate the company’s U.S. assets from its international properties, said on Thursday that Cliffs could defuse the problem by approving its nominees “not as an endorsement, but merely for the narrow purpose of not triggering the proxy put.”
Greywolf Posts Strong Gains with Net Short Stance (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
One of the best-performing hedge funds so far this year is net short. The $1 billion Greywolf Capital Overseas Fund, managed by Purchase, New York-based Greywolf Capital Management, posted a 9.5 percent gain in the first quarter and was up more than 12 percent through the end of April. At the end of the first quarter, the event-driven fund was 91 percent long and 137 percent short. Even its event-driven equity portfolio was just 9 percent net long, according to its first-quarter report, obtained by Alpha. Greywolf, which also manages $2.1 billion in CLO (collateralized loan obligation) strategies, was founded in 2003 by Jonathan Savitz and James Gillespie…
Is George Soros Trying to Spark a Japan Rally? (BloombergView)
Takahiro Mitani finds himself between George Soros and a hard place. Mitani is Japan’s $1.26 trillion man. The Government Pension Investment Fund that he runs tops Mexico’s annual output and dwarfs the Middle Eastern sovereign-wealth funds that investors are always cooing about. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants the notoriously conservative fund to crank up returns by putting more money in stocks — with an unlikely assist from billionaire Soros. In January, the world’s most famous short seller chatted with Abe at Davos, urging him to nudge the pension colossus into the 21st century…
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