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.
Hedge Fund Nomad Turns Art Dealer, Opens Her Gallery in London (BusinessWeek)
Born in Pakistan, Kashya Hildebrand spent 19 years working on Wall Street before starting anew as an art dealer in Geneva. In keeping with a life she characterizes as nomadic, she’s now moving her gallery to London from Zurich. Hildebrand, 52, was a partner at the hedge fund Moore Capital Management LLC in New York until 2000. It was there she met her husband, Philipp Hildebrand, who quit as president of the Swiss National Bank last year. He resigned under political pressure after dollar purchases made by his wife three weeks before the SNB imposed a currency cap.
Ex-banker faces off against China bears with U.S. hedge fund (Reuters)
Paul Conway’s eventful career in China included advising companies on stock offerings and overseeing a messy business restructuring — the latter stint forcing him to hire a bodyguard to fend off harassment from local thugs. Now the 43-year-old former banker is raising around $60 million for a hedge fund that will invest in U.S.-listed, Chinese companies, another assignment that many would consider not for the faint-hearted after a series of accounting scandals that have battered sentiment towards the sector since 2010.
Hedge Fund President Steps Down To Focus On Nonprofit (TCBMag)
Jonathan Wood, president and chief operating officer (COO) of Minneapolis-based hedge fund firm Whitebox Advisors, is stepping down from his role to focus on a local charity that he recently launched. Wood has spent 12 years at Whitebox, and he plans to leave his role by the end of this year. He will remain on the firm’s board of directors and “retain his economic interest in Whitebox,” Andy Redleaf, the firm’s CEO, wrote in a recent letter to investors.
The Stocks George Soros Keeps Buying (Forbes)
George Soros has the best investing record ever at his former Quantum Fund, and continues to invest to this day. While Soros is a value-oriented investor, he also applies the philosophy of reflexivity to choose which stocks people are mispricing out of emotional reactions and identify bubbles. …His top five positions make up only 13% of his portfolio. They are: Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD), Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT). Soros, however, has been building positions in several companies over time. The positions he keeps adding to are: Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE:PXD), EQT Corporation (NYSE:EQT), Constellation Brands, Inc. (NYSE:STZ) and Mosaic Co (NYSE:MOS).
Short Term, Markets Are Oversold: Marc Faber (CNBC)
In the midst of market volatility on concerns over Federal Reserve tapering, a variety of asset classes have sold off too much and could present a near-term investment opportunity, notorious bear Marc Faber told CNBC. “Treasury bonds, gold and equity markets are oversold in the near-term and they can rebound for the next ten days or even the next month,” Faber, the author of “The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report,” said on Tuesday. Also known as “Dr. Doom,” Faber said that new highs in emerging markets were unlikely and did not see any buying opportunities in emerging markets, yet.
Miners’ writedowns top $17-billion as Roubini sees gold dropping to $1,000 (FinancialPost)
Newcrest Mining Ltd.’s decision to write down the value of its mines by as much as A$6 billion ($5.5 billion) will lead to the biggest one-time charge in gold mining history. It also heralds pain for competitors. Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX), the world’s biggest producer, Newmont Mining Corp. and Gold Fields Ltd. may be next, according to Jefferies International Ltd. Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics and international business at New York University and known as Dr. Doom for predicting turmoil before the global financial crisis began in 2008, says gold may drop to $1,000 an ounce by 2015, from $1,284.50 now.
Hedge Funds’ Top Stocks Faring Worse Than the Market (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
A large majority of the most popular stocks held by hedge funds are getting hit more than the market as a whole during the current sharp sell-off. According to an analysis by Institutional Investor’s Alpha , more than two-thirds of the 20 stocks that most frequently appeared among the largest ten holdings of hedge funds at the end of the first quarter have fallen more steeply than the S&P 500 since May 15. That’s the day most investors were able to identify these holdings from the 13F filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and invest in this group of stocks. May 15 is also a good starting point because the market closed that day just shy of its peak of 1,669, reached just four trading days later.
