Loeb’s Third Point holds 1.64 pct Sony stake under its own name-filing (Reuters)
Activist hedge fund investor Daniel Loeb’s Third Point held a 1.64 percent direct interest in Sony Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:SNE) shares as of the end of September, a regulatory filing showed on Monday. The fund, which has pushed -so far unsuccessfully- for the electronics giant to partially spin off its lucrative entertainment business, has said it controls about 7 percent of Sony shares either directly or under different names. It is unclear whether Monday’s filing represents a change in the fund’s overall holdings.
JOBS Act: Surfing Hedge Fund Teams Up With “Trojan Horse” Joe Curren (HedgeCo)
In a move to take advantage of the SEC’s ratification of the JOBS Act, $100 million hedge fund investor Topturn Capital has aligned itself with professional Australian surfer Joe Curren. The company believes this will set a new precedent in hedge fund marketing. “We feel that how we represent our company will change the industry norm,” Greg Stewart, Co-Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Top Turn Capital, said. “People look at numbers all day everyday. We just brought in The Trojan Horse for our investment strategy by introducing a surfer into the equation.”
Prime broker veteran to take reins at hedge fund trade body (CityAM)
EUROPE’S leading hedge fund trade body yesterday named one of investment banking’s top prime brokerage veterans as head of the organisation. The Alternative Investment Management Association, which represents 1,300 hedge funds and investment firms, said former Barclays and Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) man Jack Inglis would be made chief executive in the new year. Inglis takes the reins from current chief executive Andrew Baker, who had headed the organisation since 2009. Inglis is well known to funds from his career spent in prime brokerage, a catch-all term for a variety of services banks offer to hedge funds.
Hedge Fund Investors Cut Bullish Gold Bets On US Fed Outlook (LiveTradingNews)
Hedge Fund Investors Cut Bullish Gold Bets On US Fed Outlook Hedge fund investors cut Bullish Gold bets, adding the most Short contracts in 4 wks, as US economic growth is fueling speculation that the US Federal Reserve will pare stimulus. Investors holdings across commodities dropped the most since last April. The net position in Gold slid 13% to 87,689 futures and options in the week ended 5 November US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data show. Short bets rose 37%, the most since 15 October, and Long bets fell 4.9%.
Investors need to starve the hedge fund beast (FT)
Asked in the late 1970s how he saw the outlook for the specialist investment vehicles that he is credited with inventing, Alfred Winslow Jones was no optimist. “The hedge fund doesn’t have a terrific future,” he said gloomily. Hedge funds’ investment styles were too easily copied, and the inefficiencies on which they thrived too swiftly eroded. They would never, Jones thought, become a big part of the investment scene. Were he alive today, Jones would be astonished at the resilience of his creation. No longer the preserve of wealthy private investors, hedge funds are part of the mainstream, managing a stunning $2.5tn, much of it from pension funds. This far exceeds their $1.9tn pre-crisis peak.
Icahn Continues to Bend Cook’s Ear About Apple Buyback (WallStCheatSheet)
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn recently spoke again with Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) CEO Tim Cook about his proposal to expand the Cupertino-based company’s share buyback program by $150 billion, reports CNBC. The activist investor told CNBC’s Scott Wapner that he had a “good conversation” with Cook “over the last few days.” According to Icahn, Cook is continuing to study the buyback proposal. Although it is not known if Cook agrees with Icahn’s views on share repurchases, the two men apparently found some common ground. “We both continue to believe that the company is undervalued,” Icahn told CNBC.
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