Paul Singer does not like the US Federal Reserve. Nor is he shy about sharing his opinions on the Fed, its policies or its chairman. Mr Singer, who runs the $22bn Elliott Management hedge fund, has called Fed policy makers “frantically flailing, over-educated, posturing bureaucrats engaged in ever more astounding experiments in monetary extremism”. In a 2011 polemic to his investors, he described the commentary of Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman, as “more like careless talk-radio rants” than prudent statements appropriate to the guardian of the US dollar. Until the Fed allows interest rates to rise, “capital will continue to be misallocated throughout the economy, real investment ‘risk’ will be almost impossible to determine and a firm foundation for solid growth in the American economy cannot be created.”
Hedge fund may see cash flow out (Boston Globe)
The hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors is bracing for investors to pull out as much as several billion dollars by a Monday deadline. The withdrawals have stepped up as a separate deadline looms for law enforcement officials investigating the firm. Over the next several weeks, the authorities must decide whether to bring a criminal case against SAC related to suspicious trading in two drug stocks. They have already charged a former SAC employee connected to those trades, which involved the fund’s billionaire founder, Steven A. Cohen. Authorities have been exploring new avenues for bringing a criminal case against the firm and possibly a civil action against Cohen, people briefed on the case said.
Will Smith and The Pursuit of Hedge Fund Happiness (Wall Street Journal)
Who is activist investor Dan Loeb’s favorite action star? Probably not Will Smith, whose latest movie, After Earth, earned just $27 million at the box office in its opening weekend.
Credit: Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE)
Take one philanthropist plus one hedge fund (Financial Times)
Business schools seem to be doing well out of hedge funds of late. Just three months after Brevan Howard gave £20.1m to Imperial College Business School, the Pershing Square Foundation has announced a gift of £4.5m to Saïd Business School at Oxford university. The Pershing Square Foundation was set up by Bill and Karen Ackman in 2006. Mr Ackman is the prominent activist hedge fund manager and founder of Pershing Square Capital Management. The gift will fund up to five scholars a year on Saïd’s “1+1” programme, which allows students to study an MBA and an Oxford university specialist master’s degree in two years. The gift will be matched by a further £3m from the Oxford Graduate Scholarship Matched Fund.
AST appointed transfer agent for NexPoint Credit Strategies (HedgeWeek)
American Stock Transfer & Trust Company (AST) has been appointed as transfer agent to NexPoint Credit Strategies Fund, a closed-end fund managed by NexPoint Advisors, an affiliated adviser of Highland Capital Management based in Dallas, Texas. AST Fund Solutions, the closed-end and mutual fund affiliate of AST, also serves as the fund’s proxy solicitor. NexPoint Credit Strategies Fund invests primarily in below investment grade debt and equity securities and has the ability to hedge risk. NexPoint Advisors attempts to exceed the return of Dow Jones Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index in a transparent, registered fund format with monthly dividends.
