3 Billionaire Interviews Every Investor Needs to See (Insider Monkey)
Billionaire interviews: In today’s financial blogosphere, it’s not uncommon to hear prominent investors sounding off on the economy, their favorite stock picks, or why they hate Apple. Recently, three billionaires were voicing their opinions: Leon Cooperman, David Tepper and Julian Robertson.
HEDGE FUND INFLOWS “REMINISCENT OF PRE-CRISIS DAYS” (Funds-Europe)
Net inflows into hedge funds in the year up to the end of September have exceeded $95 billion (€70 billion) – the highest level in five years. The amount of net new money flowing into hedge funds is “reminiscent of the pre-financial crisis days”, says Eurekahedge, a data provider that monitors flows. Total assets in the hedge fund industry now stand at $1.9 trillion, according to the firm, only 2% less than the highest ever level. Growth in October was due mainly to market growth, with a rise in the index of hedge funds tracked by Eurekahedge leading to about $3 billion in gains.
Stamos Buys Back Stakes From Merrill Lynch, Mets’ Wilpon (Bloomberg)
Peter Stamos, the former McKinsey & Co. consultant who joined New York Mets co-owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz to start a hedge-fund firm in 2002, reacquired their stakes through a management buyout. Stamos Capital Partners LP bought back interests held by the two partners as well as Merrill Lynch & Co., the New York-based firm disclosed in a regulatory filing. Katz and Wilpon amassed a fortune by developing real estate through their Sterling Equities Inc., then invested much of the excess cash with Bernard Madoff and diversified their assets by providing seed capital to Stamos.
Azentus Hedge Fund Said to Return 11% Through September (SFGate)
Azentus Global Opportunities Master Fund, run by former Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) proprietary trader Morgan Sze, gained 11 percent in the first nine months after fees, said a person with knowledge of the matter. The $904 million Asia-focused global multistrategy fund, managed out of Hong Kong, has returned more than 4 percent since inception on April 1, 2011, said the person, who asked not to be identified as the information is private. Julie Chang, an investor relations officer at Azentus Capital Management Ltd. in Hong Kong, declined to comment on the fund.
Asian hedge funds shine in stellar month for industry (CNBC)
In a stellar month for the hedge fund industry, Asian hedge funds outperformed, a report from alternative fund data provider Eurekahedge has showed. Asia ex-Japan hedge fund managers gained 2.81 percent in September and have outperformed the underlying markets for much of the past year by roughly 8 percent. The Eurekahedge Asia ex-Japan Hedge Fund Index was up 5.87 percent year-to-date in September, in contrast to the MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index, which fell 1.14 percent. By contrast, European Commodity Trading Advisors (CTA) or managed futures hedge funds witnessed their eighth consecutive month of negative returns, and were down 4.57 percent September year to date.
Marc Faber: Apple could go bust (CNBC)
Einhorn’s Greenlight up 4.3 percent in third-quarter: letter (Reuters)
David Einhorn‘s hedge fund Greenlight Capital rose 4.3 percent in the third quarter, bringing the fund’s net return for the year to 11.8 percent, according to an investor letter released on Tuesday. The $8-billion hedge fund also said it added to its short bet against Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR) shares were down 4.5 percent at $65.82 at the close of trading Tuesday. While Greenlight’s returns are better than the average hedge fund, which gained about 5.6 percent through September, the fund is trailing the broader S&P 500 stock index, which is up more than 17.9 percent this year. The S&P rose 4.7 percent in the third quarter.
Quad Capital Says Former Exec Stole Info, Moved To Rival (Law360)
Wall Street broker-dealer Quad Capital LLC has accused its former chief operating officer of stealing confidential information from the firm and joining a rival hedge fund after just nine days on the job, according to a Friday complaint in New York state court. Gregg Peter Grimmelbein worked for Quad Capital for nine business days — from Sept. 23 until Oct. 3 — then abruptly resigned to join Tiger Ratan Capital Fund LP, according to the suit. Shortly before leaving, Grimmelbein sent confidential information about Quad Capital…
Investor profiler to join financial mentalists at 7th annual GIBI (DallasNews)
John Train (above) made rock stars of Warren Buffett and George Soros in his financial best-sellers. He will speak at this year’s GIBI Investment Symposium. Call it the seven-year itch. With six successful GIBI Investment Symposiums under their belts that have raised more than $7 million for charity, Shad Rowe and John Neill are adding a twist to this year’s event. Each year at GIBI (pronounced “gibby”), celebrity investors such as T. Boone Pickens and Mario Gabelli give “insider” tips about investing. The tickets cost $1,000.
T. Boone Pickens and His Natural-Gas Car (WSJ)
T. Boone Pickens, 85, lifelong oil man and chairman of BP Capital Management, on his “Pickens Plan Car,” as told to A.J. Baime: I drive a Mercedes S600, but I keep a Honda Civic GX too. It’s the only passenger car you can buy right now in the U.S. that runs on compressed natural gas. We call it the Pickens Plan Car, because my plan is about getting off OPEC oil. Natural gas is 30% cleaner than gasoline, cheaper and we have more of it than any other nation. [Mr. Pickens’s hedge fund, BP Capital Management, trades in natural-gas and oil commodities and equities.] There are fueling stations out there, but I hook into my natural-gas line at my home. It cost me less than $1 a gallon.
Hedge Fund Chart Guru Tom DeMark Sees Dark Days Ahead (BusinessWeek)
Stock market analyst Tom DeMark spends many weekends in his home office in Scottsdale, Ariz., pondering the fate of the markets. The founder of Market Studies studies the price movements of stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies, and indices to try to determine where things may be headed, and investors pay for the privilege of knowing his thoughts. DeMark has thousands of subscribers to his company’s service through Bloomberg, and he has served as a consultant to Leon Cooperman and Paul Tudor Jones in the past…
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