Editor’s Note: Related Tickers: Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B), Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS), Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF)
Elliott Tells Clients Money-Losing Gold Still Best Value (Bloomberg)
Hedge fund manager sentenced in Dell insider trading case (PCWorld)
A former portfolio manager at the now defunct Diamondback Capital Management has been sentenced to 54 months in prison for crimes related to a multimillion dollar insider trading scheme involving computer maker Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) and hardware maker Nvidia. Todd Newman was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Newman and co-defendant Anthony Chiasson, a former portfolio manager and co-founder of Level Global Investors, were convicted of securities fraud charges in December, following a six-week jury trial. Newman was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and four counts of securities fraud. “With today’s sentence, Todd Newman becomes the first member of this corrupt circle of friends to be punished for his conduct,” U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
Edoma’s Hedayat To Indus, Will Launch Special Situations Fund (FINalternatives)
Former Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) and Edoma Partners trader Ali Hedayat will join hedge fund Indus Capital, six months after Edoma went under. Hedayat will launch a new global special-situations fund at Indus, Financial News reports. That fund is expected to debut within the next few months. Hedayat was a founding partner at Edoma, which was set up by his former boss at Goldman’s proprietary trading operation, Pierre-Henri Flamand. One of the largest and most prominent hedge fund launches of 2010, Edoma closed its doors after just two years, with Flamand citing poor performance and difficult market conditions.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.B): Warren Buffett’s Best Investment Ever (Insider Monkey)
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B) has been a huge winner for its long-term shareholders. Between 1965 and 2012, the per-share book value of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. has grown 586,817% (no, that’s not a typo). We can chalk a healthy chunk of those outsized returns up to the capital allocation and investing prowess of Berkshire’s CEO, Warren Buffett.
Hedge funds find salvation in Japan’s Abenomics (Financial Times)
If hedge fund managers believed in salvation, then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would be a prime candidate for saviour. For a $2.4tn industry whose returns, for the past four years, have been disappointing at best, and moribund at worst, only one trade has really mattered of late: buying Japan. The soaring Nikkei and plummeting yen – triggered by Mr Abe’s move to precipitate a dramatic change in policy at the Bank of Japan towards…
…greater quantitative easing – have powered some of the biggest returns in years for hedge funds. The Nikkei 225 has rallied 32 per cent so far this year, while the yen has fallen 11.4 per cent against the dollar.
Lake Hill Launches Commodities Strategy (FINalternatives)
New York-based investment firm Lake Hill Capital Management has opened its Lake Hill All-Alpha commodities strategy to qualified investors. The commodity program, which Lake Hill currently runs for several institutional and high-net-worth clients, is based on the Lake Hill Index Strategy, which trades S&P 500 and Russell 2000 products (including futures options and related securities) exclusively. The All-Alpha Strategy invests in a diverse book of exchange-traded commodity futures and options on metals, energy, agriculture, and equity indices.
Einhorn is gored by gold (New York Post)
Secrets of Investing Like a Hedge-Fund Manager (Yahoo! Finance)
If you want to invest like a hedge fund manager, now’s the time to put your money in transportation, computer technology and housing stocks. Hedge funds are usually off-limits to the average Joe due to excessive fees. But AlphaClone’s ETF ALFA attempts to replicate successful fund strategies. And the method is completely automated. In a proprietary analysis, ALFA tracks more than 300 hedge funds by examining their mandatory 13 F-HR quarterly disclosures. The fund managers are given “clone” scores. ALFA mimics the funds of managers with the highest score. As of now, Maz Jadallah, founder and chief executive of AlphaClone, said fund managers like the computer technology sector. In fact, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) was the most popular hedge-fund holding for a while, until it fell out of grace as the stock tumbled.
Exclusive: China investment guru Fang targets comeback with $2 billion Hopu II fund (Reuters)
Fang Fenglei, a former Goldman Sachs banker and co-founder of Hopu Investment Management, is raising up to $2 billion in a new fund, people familiar with the matter said, as one of China’s best known bankers seeks to add to his riches. The launch of another Hopu fund removes the mystery surrounding the next move of a politically connected and closely watched China financier who stepped out of the limelight three years ago. The new fund also revives a potential conflict, as Fang’s dual role as a non-executive chairman of Goldman Sachs Gao Hua Securities, a unit of Goldman Sachs’ China investment bank, and also as co-founder of Hopu, could put the rainmaker in the awkward position of competing with Goldman for deals.
MGM Resorts International (MGM): Icahn Up To Something…Bigger Than Herbalife? (Insider Monkey)
Carl Icahn is back to his old ways. After returning the money of outside investors, Icahn has been on a tear, taking part in activism at Dell, launching a powerful short squeeze against Bill Ackman, and participating in more deals now than in any period in recent memory. Icahn isn’t afraid of the limelight. He’s been the loudest when it comes to Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF). But what he’s doing quietly is much more interesting. Behind the scenes, Icahn is…
…slowly getting back into his old game – casino operators. In a best case scenario, Icahn will be ready to make a deal. MGM Resorts International (NYSE:MGM) is a potential suitor, a company with a $6 billion market cap and the financials capable of making a deal.
Bill Mahoney, Bridgewater’s Marketer in Growth Years, Dies at 55 (Bloomberg)
Bill Mahoney, who led global sales and marketing and became an equity partner at Bridgewater Associates LP, the world’s largest hedge fund, before retiring to pursue other interests before his 50th birthday, has died. He was 55. He died on April 30 at his home in New Canaan, Connecticut, his wife, Alice Bartlett Mahoney, said today in an interview. The cause was pancreatic cancer. Mahoney worked at Westport, Connecticut-based Bridgewater from 1998 to 2006, following a job at Bankers Trust Australia. Bridgewater, founded in 1975 by Ray Dalio, had about $10 billion in assets under management in 1998, according to an article on Mahoney’s arrival in Investment Management Weekly. By November 2005, the figure had soared to $141 billion. Today, the company manages about $150 billion, according to its website.
Hedge Fund Investor, Merchant Bank Team Up to Hunt Zombie Funds (Private Equity Hub)
In what could the start of a trend to free up an estimated $100 billion trapped in U.S. buyout shop funds with little hope of raising fresh cash, an Alabama-based merchant bank and a Texas hedge fund investor with roots to the oil fortune of Perry R. Bass announced plans to form Crestline-Kirchner Private Equity Group. W.B. (Bud) Kirchner, the founder of 28-year-old Kirchner Group, a Birmingham, Ala.-based bank with a specialty in working with portfolio companies and limited partners in the buyout world, will head up the new firm. But most of the staffing and capital for the venture will come from Ft. Worth, Texas-based Crestline Investors Inc. Crestline will group the new zombie business under $1.9 billion in capital allocated under its “opportunistic investments” umbrella.
Martinovich Fraud Case Winds Down (FINalternatives)
A jury is set to begin considering the fate of accused hedge fund fraudster Jeffrey Martinovich today, as the MICG Investment Management CEO awaits a verdict that could send him to prison for centuries. Prosecutors and Martinovich’s defense team made their closing arguments yesterday in Newport News, Va., federal court. Prosecutors allege that Martinovich routinely misled investors about the value of MICG’s hedge fund and its investments to overcharge them, and ran a Ponzi scheme to boot. “It’s a story of fraud committed by this man to keep his company afloat and to line his own pockets,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Samuels told the jury.
David A Geffen launches hedge fund advisory practice (HedgeWeek)
David A Geffen has launched Geffen Advisors, a consulting firm focused exclusively on the hedge fund industry. Geffen Advisors offers strategic advice and solutions to hedge funds in several core practice areas including treasury management, counterparty risk management, and fund launch. Additionally, Geffen Advisors will provide outsourced chief operating officer solutions and specialised training services. The firm’s treasury management and counterparty risk management offerings provide advice to hedge funds in managing their prime brokerage and related activities more effectively while mitigating the counterparty risk inherent in those relationships.
