Avenue Capital Says Raising 200 Million Pounds for Debt Fund (BusinessWeek)
Avenue Capital Group LLC, the U.S. hedge fund founded by billionaire Marc Lasry and his sister Sonia Gardner, said it plans to raise 200 million pounds ($328 million) for a fund buying European corporate loans and distressed debt. Avenue Capital Credit Opportunities Ltd. will seek to sell 20 million shares at 10 pounds each with an annual dividend target of 5 percent, it said in a statement to the London Stock Exchange. The fund will invest in direct loans to European companies as well as non-performing loans and other “undervalued opportunities,” according to the statement.
Hedge Funds Circling Venezuela as Yields Top 15%: Andes Credit (Bloomberg)
Hedge funds are stepping in to fill a vacuum in Venezuela’s bonds as deepening concern the nation will default triggers an investor exodus. The debt, which suffered the worst selloff in emerging markets as Standard & Poor’s cut the country’s rating to CCC+ and predicted at least a 50 percent chance of non-payment in two years, has become increasingly attractive to firms including Greylock Capital Management LLC and Callaway Capital Management LLC. The government notes now yield 15.7 percent on average, the most in developing nations, while bonds from the state-owned oil producer are also among the cheapest dollar-denominated corporate securities in the world.
JOBs Act: SEC Warns Hedge Funds Of Misrepresenting Themselves In Advertising (HedgeCo)
The SEC has warned that 13 hedge funds and their advisers have been only reporting favorable information about themselves, leaving out their losing bets in past performance when advertising under the new JOBs Act. “We plotted the accounts that were allocated winning trades more often than losing trades.” Andrew Bowden, head of the SEC’s Office of Compliance, Inspections and Examinations, said at a CFA Institute conference in Boston, ” we came out of that and found 13 hedge funds that had accounts that were being disproportionately allocated favourable trades.”
Warren Buffett also a loser in Tesco debacle (Independent)
He may be known as the Sage of Omaha for his stock-picking prowess. He may have made his investors more than $2bn by backing Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) when it was on its uppers. But Warren Buffett has dropped a £100m clanger with his persistent backing for Tesco. An analysis of his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) investment group’s trading in Tesco shares shows how it added to its 260m holding of Tesco stock last autumn with a big punt to buy 75m more – costing between £240m – £260m. But the share price fell pretty much instantly – and kept on falling.
Cattegatt Sees Better Hedge Fund Side Pocket Prices (Finalternatives)
London-based specialist broker Cattegatt Secondaries says hedge fund side pocket pricing is improving, thanks to an improving economy. Side pocket accounts are used by hedge funds to separate illiquid assets from other more liquid investments. Investors who leave a hedge fund are still entitled to a share of the profits from the sale of such assets, and Cattegatt Secondaries said better market liquidity and a more active M&A climate for exits have helped reduce the amount of time investors must wait to get their funds back.
Dr. J talks BABA: NYSE did fabulous (CNBC)
Barclays picks hedge fund platform founder to head wealth unit (Reuters)
Barclays has named the founder of a managed account platform for hedge funds as the new boss of its wealth and investment management arm. Barclays said on Monday that Akshaya Bhargava would join as chief executive of wealth and investment management on Oct. 13 from InfraHedge Ltd, an operator of infrastructure solutions for institutional investors in hedge funds that he founded in 2010 and sold to State Street Corporation (NYSE:STT) at the end of 2013. Bhargava will become the third head of the Barclays wealth business in less than two years. He fills the role left vacant by Peter Horrell, who said in June he would leave once a replacement was found. Horrell became boss of the wealth business following the departure of Tom Kalaris in April 2013.
Passive Investor Paulson Pushed Family Dollar To Sell Itself (Finalternatives)
Hedge fund billionaire John Paulson privately lobbied Family Dollar Stores, Inc. (NYSE:FDO) to sell itself although he later told the Securities and Exchange Commission his hedge fund’s investment in the discount retailer was passive. Paulson advised Family Dollar CEO Howard Levine to sell during an October 2013 meeting, then again in a January 2014 letter which asked Levine to “explore strategic alternatives,” according to a regulatory filing last week by Family Dollar. A month later, Paulson & Co. told the SEC it had not acquired an 8.6% stake in Family Dollar with an eye to “changing or influencing the control” of the company.
Marcato Is Latest Activist to Play Hide-and-Seek with Filings (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
Some activists are able to avoid making timely legal disclosures about positions by obtaining waivers or building up positions on non-U.S. exchanges. Marcato may be one such firm. Each quarter investors eagerly sift through 13F filings, documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that detail what stocks fund managers are holding in their portfolios, in the hopes of discovering the latest investments made by the most high-profile hedge fund managers. Some exchange-traded funds are designed specifically to emulate these quarterly hedge fund holdings. There are obvious flaws in this exercise, such as that the quarterly holdings are generally disclosed about 45 days after the period ends, and the 13F filings don’t include non-U.S.-listed stocks…
Ackman threatens to sue Allergan if Salix deal proceeds (TheGlobeAndMail)
Activist investor Bill Ackman is threatening to sue Allergan, Inc. (NYSE:AGN) if it proceeds with a merger deal with Salix Pharmaceuticals, Ltd. (NASDAQ:SLXP) without first putting such a proposed transaction to a vote. Mr. Ackman, whose Pershing Square Capital Management LP is partnered with Laval, Que.-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) in a $53-billion (U.S.) hostile bid for Allergan, said a transaction with Salix without shareholder approval would “directly contradict” pledges by Allergan’s board to allow its shareholders to vote on the Valeant offer.
Tiger Global, Big Investor in Tech Start-Ups, Said to Plan New $1.5 Billion Fund (NYTimes)
Tiger Global Management, the $15 billion investment firm that has invested in the likes of the Alibaba Group and the sunglasses maker Warby Parker, has begun raising a $1.5 billion fund, just five months after raising another $1.5 billion vehicle, a person briefed on the matter said on Tuesday. …Founded in 2005 with the backing of the hedge fund magnate Julian H. Robertson of Tiger Management — and earning the sobriquet “Tiger cub” in the process — the firm began life as a hedge fund.
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