Coatue to Return as Much as 35% of Money From Hedge Fund (BusinessWeek)
Philippe Laffont, founder of hedge-fund firm Coatue Management LLC, plans to return as much as 35 percent of the money in his main $7 billion fund. Investors in the fund will receive the money at the end of June, according to a letter to clients that didn’t give an exact amount of cash to be returned. Laffont said the right size for the fund is $5 billion. Coatue was among the hedge-fund firms that invested heavily in technology shares, which slumped in the first quarter as popular holdings such as online retailer Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) tumbled 16 percent. Laffont said his firm has cut its gross and net exposure to near historic lows after losing 9 percent in March.
Hedge funds buy crude as US gasoline pump prices jump (FuelFix)
Fewer than three weeks into spring, oil speculators are already thinking about the summer. Hedge funds and other money managers boosted bullish wagers the most since February, betting that refineries will need to buy more crude to accelerate gasoline output before the peak U.S summer driving season. Fuel supply is already tight, with consumers paying the most at the pump in seven months. U.S. refineries are processing the most oil since January as plants come out of seasonal maintenance, squeezing crude stockpiles for the first time in 11 weeks.
Revamped SAC Hires an Internal Watchdog (NYTimes)
FA former federal prosecutor and hedge fund general counsel is now keeping tabs on trading at Steven A. Cohen’s new family office, Point72 Asset Management. Mr. Cohen’s firm, in a memorandum to employees on Tuesday, announced that it had hired Vincent Tortorella as the firm’s chief surveillance officer, a new position. Mr. Tortorella most recently was general counsel for Coatue Management, the hedge fund led by Philippe Laffont. Before that he was a prosecutor in the United States attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York and general counsel with Guidepoint Global, an expert networking firm that specializes in matching up hedge fund traders and analysts with industry consultants.
Calamar joins with NYC hedge fund for senior housing venture (BizJournals)
In what may be a major expansion into the development of senior housing nationwide, Calamar Enterprises Inc. has created a joint venture with one of the country’s largest hedge fund operators. Kenneth Franasiak, Calamar president and CEO, confirmed that his Wheatfield-based development company has teamed up with New York-based Mount Kellett Capital Management LP to finance and help develop a series of “independent light” senior housing developments across the U.S. Calamar has brought four of its existing “independent light” senior living complexes, including the 90-unit Eagle Crest Senior Village in Orchard Park, into the joint venture.
Financial sector must change: Hintze (BusinessSpectator)
Billionaire hedge fund manager Michael Hintze believes Australia’s financial services sector is underperforming as an export generator relative to sectors such as education and would perform better with reforms to the tax and funds management regimes. Sir Michael, a member of the international panel advising the Financial System Inquiry, said Australia needed to play to its strengths as one of the largest investment pools in the world and a creator of talented financial services executives. “Proportionally, the education sector is earning considerably more than our financial services sector,’’ Sir Michael told The Australian.
Tech carnage hits hedge funds (CNBC)
The Hedge Fund Tiger Cubs In The Tech Coal Mine (Forbes)
Billionaire Stephen Mandel Jr. is one of the most successful so-called Tiger Cubs, the group of hedge fund managers whose careers were nurtured working for hedge fund legend Julian Robertson’s Tiger Management. Mandel founded his own Greenwich, Ct., hedge fund firm, Lone Pine Capital, in 1997 and now manages some $27 billion. Mandel’s moves are closely followed and those looking at his firms filings with the Securities & Exchange Commission noticed that his hedge funds dumped shares of high-flying tech stocks like Amazon, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) +3.06%, Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) and Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) +4.63% in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Hedge funds get $24.3bn in February, highest monthly inflow in three years (Opalesque)
BarclayHedge and TrimTabs Investment Research reported today that hedge funds received $24.3 billion (1.1% of assets) in February, the highest monthly inflow in three years, building on an inflow of $4.4 billion (0.2% of assets) in January. “The hedge fund industry raked in $28.7 billion in January and February, an 83% jump from $15.7 billion in the same period last year,” said Sol Waksman, president and founder of BarclayHedge. Industry assets climbed to a 5–1/2 year high of $2.2 trillion in February, according to estimates based on data from 3,374 funds. Assets rose 18% in the past 12 months but are down 11% from the all-time high of $2.4 trillion in June 2008.
Loehmann’s Is Not Dead Yet: Will Live on New E-Comm Site (Racked)
The death knell has rung for iconic New York discount department store, Loehmann’s, since it was announced that the store had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December. Loehmann’s online shop stopped accepting orders in early January, before the physical location launched liquidation sales. But the iconic retailer is not dead yet. A hedge fund called Esopus Creek Value Series Fund LP purchased intellectual rights and the IP assets back in January and is finally contractually allowed to use them. They announced that they’d be relaunching the Loehmann’s site with an eye towards a younger customer in May.
The key to Hillary Clinton’s success (WashingtonPost)
It is sometimes hard for Hillary Clinton’s critics to understand how she has risen to the point of inevitability in the Democratic Party’s presidential 2016 sweepstakes. Yes, she failed at health-care reform on her own. Sure, she had no discernible achievements at the State Department and some pretty big flops (e.g. Russian reset, Iran engagement, Israeli relations, Benghazi, Libya). Oh and yes, the health-care plan that essentially duplicated her 2008 platform and which she pushed for internally while on President Obama’s cabinet is widely disliked. And of course, she gobbles up speaking fees from hedge fund donors and courts Arab royalty for Clinton Foundation donors — behavior that would earn a Republican vilification from the New York Times…
Odey adds Goldman analyst to growing tech ranks (eFinancialNews)
Simon Schafer, a former tech analyst at the Wall Street bank, joined Odey Asset Management late last month, according to a person familiar with the situation. He had been with Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) since late 2001. At Goldman Sachs, Schafer covered firms such as ARM Holdings plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:ARMH), Ericsson (ADR) (NASDAQ:ERIC), Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK), and Infineon Technologies AG (PINK:IFNNY). …The UK hedge fund, founded by Crispin Odey in 1991, employs around 20 analysts. The fund has invested in online retailer boohoo.com, biotech company Circassia, and mobile phone company Ericsson.
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