Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO), Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS), Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX), Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT), Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE:STZ), Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS)
A $70 billion portfolio managed by hedge fund titan Ray Dalio‘s Bridgewater Associates and widely held by many pension funds to survive stormy markets is emerging as a big loser in the recent selloff in global markets. The Bridgewater All Weather Fund is down roughly 6 percent through this month and down 8 percent for the year, said two people familiar with the fund’s performance. The All Weather Fund is one of two big portfolios managed by Bridgewater and uses a so-called “risk parity” strategy that is supposed to make money for investors if bonds or stocks sell off, though not simultaneously.
Why The Proxy Battle To Dismantle Yahoo’s Board Probably Won’t Work (Seattlepi)
Two massive pension funds are getting together to wage a proxy battle that would completely wipe out and rebuild Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)‘s Board of Directors at the company’s meeting tomorrow, but it’s time to get real — they probably won’t get what they want. At least not exactly. …This game is not for the weak stomached. Now, Ader’s victory happened at a $4 billion company with an unpopular CEO and it was quite a coup. Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) has a market cap of $27 billion and Marissa Mayer at the helm, so the pension funds waging a winner-take-all fight there are in for an even tougher battle.
Kirk’s Cantab Hedge Fund Said to Drop 14% in June Market Selloff (SFGate)
Cantab Capital Partners LLP, a hedge-fund firm partly owned by Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS), has lost 14 percent in its main fund this month as bonds and currencies fell, two people familiar with the performance said. The $4.5 billion fund, based in Cambridge, England, dropped 19 percent for the year through June 21, said the people, who asked not to be named because the firm is private. Cantab, founded in 2006 by Ewan Kirk, a former Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) partner, has been hurt in recent days as markets tumbled after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said on June 19 that the U.S. central bank may start reducing fixed-income purchases that have helped fuel a global rally in stocks and bonds.
Ex-Bank of America trader launches credit hedge fund-source (Reuters)
Veteran credit trader Iftikhar Ali is launching his own hedge fund firm, a source close to the new company told Reuters, as traders look to cash in on turbulent bond markets. Ali, former head of international proprietary credit trading at Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) and more recently hedge fund manager at Observatory Capital, plans to launch Rhodium Capital in the fourth quarter of the year, the source said. Rhodium and Ali declined to comment.
Odey cuts stake in Man Group after share price slump (Reuters)
Odey Asset Management has reduced its stake in Man Group after a slump in the hedge fund company’s share price over the past month. London-based Odey, founded by veteran fund manager Crispin Odey and known for its lucrative 2009 bet on a recovery in Barclays (BARC.L) shares, reduced its holding to 6.72 percent on Thursday, when the shares were trading between 77.6 and 85.8 pence. Odey, which had increased its position to 7.37 percent last month, was not immediately available to comment on the share sale.
The 2013 Hedge Fund Rising Stars (InstitutionalInvestor)
Anyone who thinks women don’t make good traders should meet Nehal Chopra, founder of New York hedge fund firm Ratan Capital Management. Chopra is one of an elite handful of managers singled out by Julian Robertson Jr.’s Tiger Management Corp. for special support from among those it has seeded. Like many of the 30 executives and investment professionals on Institutional Investor’s 2013 Hedge Fund Rising Stars list, Chopra shows how much more diverse the hedge fund industry has become since the 1990s, when it was dominated by middle-class white men with Ivy League educations who launched their firms in New York or Connecticut.
