The hedge-fund manager is facing possible bankruptcy of his LightSquared telecom company, censure by the SEC, and lawsuits by investors, but tells Eli Lake he will solve the problems—and still be a rich guy if worse comes to worst.
Soros, Trichet and the Asians(MarketWatch)
Just as financier and philanthropist George Soros was in Berlin last week to warn the Germans of impending doom in economic and monetary union (EMU), Jean-Claude Trichet, former president of the European Central Bank, was swinging through London to tell the English that (with any luck) all will be well.
52-Week-High Alert: Icahn Enterprises (DailyFinance)
Shares of Icahn Enterprises (NAS: IEP) hit a 52-week high on Friday. Let’s look at how it got here and see whether clear skies are ahead. Since Icahn Enterprises is a holding company of assets from energy to gaming to real estate, it’s important to understand the drivers taking hold over the past 52 weeks. Icahn’s investments are very leveraged to the U.S. economic recovery, and as the economy has improved, so has the performance of the company’s business units. But the biggest driver is Icahn’s investments, which netted a $1.9 billion net gain on investment activities during 2011.
Shanghai Cracks Door Open for Hedge Funds(WSJ)
Shanghai officials plan to launch a pilot program that would allow some foreign hedge funds and others to raise yuan funds on the mainland for overseas investment, according to a senior Chinese financial official and industry players.
It would mark the latest move by Chinese authorities to loosen controls on cross-border capital flows, part of China’s broader effort to turn the yuan into an international currency. Tight capital controls remain part of a long-standing policy aimed at managing the yuan’s exchange rate and protecting the country’s creaking financial system from external shocks.
SEC Begins Big Dig into Hedge Fund Data(WSJ)
The top U.S. securities regulator has started to sift through a trove of new data on the nation’s largest hedge funds and other private money managers to help identify firms whose behavior might pose the greatest risks to their investors.
“Pick your fraud of the day and the question is, ‘Can we extract information from this data system together with the other databases we have access to and home in on problems before they do damage?'” said Robert Plaze, deputy director in the division of investment management for the Securities and Exchange Commission.
CORRECTED-SAC Capital’s Asia head is leaving after 10 yrs -sources(Reuters)
Corrects story to show that Luo did not manage money for SAC. He headed Asia Pacific operations.
Jay Luo, SAC Capital Advisors’ head in Asia, is leaving Steven A. Cohen’s $14 billion firm, two sources said, in one of the most high-profile departures for some years in the regional hedge fund industry.
No Hedge Fund Mass Exodus from UK (FT)
Major hedge fund managers are staying put in London despite fears that higher taxes and regulation might make them relocate, according to research group Hedge Fund Intelligence.
London remains the largest centre for hedge fund managers outside the US, with 57 firms managing at least $1bn each in assets – not including the London offices of 100 major US hedge fund groups.
Swiss Lawmakers Mull New Hedge-Fund Rules (BusinessWeek)
Swiss lawmakers are considering proposals to tighten regulations on hedge funds and other asset managers that will align the Alpine nation with draft European Union rules.
The amendment to an act on collective investments will be debated by both chambers of the parliament in the “summer and autumn sessions” and take effect in 2013, said Nadia Batzig, a spokeswoman for the Swiss Finance Ministry in Bern.
Hedge fund’s “Billion Dollar Club” loses out to smaller rivals as equity markets rise (InvestmentEurope)
Hedge fund allocators were right last year in deciding to funnel more money to firms with $1bn or more – dubbed the ‘Billion Dollar Club’ – but this year the higher exposure of smaller funds to rising equity markets has meant returns from the elite club have lagged, according to data providers.
After His Fund’s Huge Meltdown, Phil Falcone Calls Lightsquared Situation ‘Un-American’, ‘Unfair’, And ‘Outrageous’ (BusinessInsider)
Katherine Burton, Max Abelson, and Saijel Kishan at Bloomberg Business Week have a monster new profile on Phil Falcone, the collapse of his hedge fund Harbinger Capital and the trouble at his satellite wireless venture Lightsquared.
The once high-flying hedge funder had some choice words for all the troubles that have plagued the wireless network service.
Hedge Fund News: Ro. Boone Pickens, Warren Buffett etc.. (Insider Monkey)
