Did David Tepper’s Appaloosa Get Killed Friday? (TheStreet.com)
David Tepper‘s Appaloosa Management is one of the top performing large hedge funds on Wall Street, but he likely took a beating on Friday, according to John Hempton, an Australian blogger and manager of a hedge fund called Bronte Capital that is a flea relative to a multi-billion dollar giant like Appaloosa. Recalling this interview Tepper gave to Bloomberg two months ago, Hempton notes Tepper was long equities and short bonds as a hedge. On Friday, equities were hit hard, while bonds performed well. “In other words Tepper was long the bad stuff, short the good stuff and the short was meant to be his hedge,” Hempton wrote Saturday on his blog.
Citrone’s Discovery Hedge Fund Joins BlackRock in Bet on Mexico (San Francisco Chronicle)
Discovery Capital Management LLC, the $15 billion macro-economic hedge fund run by Rob Citrone, is betting on a strengthening economy in Mexico, echoing comments from money managers including Laurence D. Fink’s BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) and Bill Gross’s Pacific Investment Management Co. “Mexico is our highest-conviction long idea for 2014,” the firm said in a letter to clients, a copy of which was obtained for Bloomberg News. “During 2013, Mexico has undertaken the most ambitious and revolutionary reform agenda of all emerging markets. On a global basis, its reform agenda even exceeds Japan’s in our view.”
Loeb, Singer Hold Gay-Rights Event At Davos (FINalternatives)
Two of the hedge-fund industry’s most prominent supporters of gay rights brought the issue to the forefront of the World Economic Forum last week. Elliott Management’s Paul Singer and Third Point’s Daniel Loeb hosted a panel featuring gay-rights activists from Russia, Cameroon and Jamaica, three countries where those rights either do not exist or are under assault. The two hedge fund managers followed that lineup on a panel of their own, which also featured Human Rights Campaign chief Chad Griffin.
Druckenmiller Lawyer Takes On Hedge Funds Over Contracts (Bloomberg)
Stan Druckenmiller, one of the top-performing money managers of the past three decades, discovered a hard truth when he started investing in other hedge funds: Most don’t treat their clients fairly. Partnership agreements frequently leave investors on the hook for legal fees associated with the misconduct of fund employees, or allow managers to unilaterally suspend redemptions for any reason, Gerald Kerner, Druckenmiller’s lawyer since 1997, wrote in a paper presented yesterday to a group of endowments and foundations. Now Kerner is fighting back, pushing for changes in an industry where managers wield clout with their investors and typically charge the highest fees in the asset-management business.
Distressed Debt Hedge Fund Commits $530 Million to Europe (New York Times)
Marathon Asset Management has gained a reputation for being a rag-and-bone picker, finding opportunities in the aftermath of financial disaster. Marathon, a $11 billion hedge fund, is going scavenging in Europe with a new fund dedicated to distressed debt on the Continent, hoping to profit from improving economic prospects in the region. The $530 million fund was opened on Jan. 15 and will start with investments in Spain, Germany and Ireland, according to someone familiar with the fund’s strategy.
Cooperman’s hunt for value (CNBC)
Tiger Global mulling new $1.5B global VC fund (VC Circle)
Tiger Global Management LLC, the hedge fund managed by industry mogul Charles Coleman, has kicked off process to raise its eighth venture capital fund focused on later-stage, privately-held technology companies, as per a report by the Fortune citing sources. At present it has seven VC funds with assets of over $6 billion which will rise to over $7.5 billion if the rumours of new fund turns out to be true. It had raised nearly $1.5 billion in its seventh VC fund in 2012 and is looking at a similar amount for the proposed eighth fund.
Hedge fund ‘bets against United’ (The Business Desk)
A hedge fund led by one of the men who failed to buy Manchester United PLC (NYSE:MANU) four years ago is betting against the club’s New York-listed shares, according to Sky News. The broadcaster said that Marshall Wace stands to make large profits if Manchester United continues to perform poorly on the New York stock market. The club’s run of poor form has hit its share price which has fallen from $18 in May when Sir Alex Ferguson announced his retirement to $14.78. The fall has wiped $654m off the market value which now stands at $2.42bn.
Pershing Square Buys Into Platform Specialty Products Corporation (PAH) (Insider Monkey)
Bill Ackman‘s Pershing Square has disclosed a position in Platform Specialty Products Corporation (NYSE:PAH), a company that recently started trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Pershing Square owns 29.1 million shares of Platform Specialty Products Corporation, which represent 22% of all outstanding stock, as well as 4.1 million warrants with a conversion price of $11.5. Platform Specialty Products Corporation, which began trading on the NYSE on January 23, after a tenure on the London Stock Exchange, produces high-tech specialty chemical products. PAH produces a range of chemicals from raw materials.
Hedge Fund Casablanca Pushes for Breakup of Iron-Ore Miner (Wall Street Journal)
A hedge fund is pressing for a breakup at Cliffs Natural Resources Inc (NYSE:CLF), the company with the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 index over the past year. New York hedge fund Casablanca Capital LP wants to see the iron-ore miner divide its international and domestic operations, according to a letter sent Monday to the Cleveland-based company’s management that is expected to be disclosed in a securities filing Tuesday morning.
DuPont sets $5 billion buy back as farm focus fuels profit (Reuters)
E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE:DD)‘s quarterly profit doubled, beating market estimates, as its strong push into agriculture paid off, and the chemical maker said it would buy back $5 billion in stock. DuPont shares were up about 2 percent at $61.30 in premarket trading on Tuesday. Strong insecticide sales in Latin America and the early shipment of corn seed to farmers in Brazil and North America helped the agriculture business post its first profitable fourth quarter in four years. DuPont itself last October outlined plans to spin off its performance chemicals unit, which has weighed on results since 2012, after Nelson Peltz‘s Trian Fund Management took a stake in the company.
