Hedge Fund News: Steven Cohen, Global X Top Guru Holdings Index ETF (GURU), WPX Energy Inc (WPX)

Editor’s Note: Related Tickers: Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), Hampden Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBNK), WPX Energy Inc (NYSE:WPX)

SAC’s Cohen Said to Mull Deal That Would Shut Hedge Fund (Bloomberg)
After five years under investigation for insider trading, Steven Cohen is considering proposing a deal to prosecutors that would shut his $15 billion hedge-fund firm to outside investors, according to a person familiar with his thinking. Cohen has discussed an agreement under which his SAC Capital Advisors LP would admit wrongdoing but wouldn’t be prosecuted unless it broke the law again, said the person, who asked not to be named because the talks are private. As part of the deal, known as a deferred prosecution agreement, Cohen would close the Stamford, Connecticut-based firm to outside investors and make it a family office that manages his personal fortune. SAC Capital probably would also pay a fine.

Russia asks Interpol to monitor movements of British hedge fund boss Bill Browder (The Independent)
Russia has applied to Interpol to monitor the travel and whereabouts of a British hedge fund boss wanted by Moscow who is at the heart of a diplomatic stand-off over the alleged killing of whistle-blowing lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. The international policing body will decide this week whether to approve the request from the Russian authorities to issue an “All Points Bulletin” for US-born financier Bill Browder, whose Hermitage Capital Management employed Mr Magnitsky prior to his death in a Russian prison in 2009.

Rich Returns From a Poor Man’s Hedge Fund (Bloomberg)
Everyone wants to know what John Paulson or David Einhorn or David Tepper is loading up on and what they’re getting rid of. And yes, there’s an exchange-traded fund to feed that fascination. It’s up 52 percent since its inception less than a year ago — 18 percent more than the S&P 500 Index. The Global X Top Guru Holdings Index ETF (GURU) sounds a bit gimmicky, but its inner workings are more sophisticated than its name. GURU’s methodology is to scour 13F filings and buy the biggest stock holding from each hedge fund. Filters are put in place to eliminate funds that have high turnover rates — those that do a lot of rapid-fire buying and selling — and the ETF considers only hedge funds with concentrated top holdings.

WPX Energy rises as hedge fund discloses stake (Joplin Globe)
Shares of WPX Energy Inc (NYSE:WPX) soared to an all-time high on Monday as a hedge fund disclosed a minority stake in the oil and gas company. Taconic Capital Advisors LP said in a regulatory filing that it now has a 6.39 percent interest in WPX Energy. The hedge fund also said that it may talk with WPX about ways to increase value for shareholders.
WPX Energy Inc (NYSE:WPX)’s stock rose 98 cents, or 5.3 percent, to $19.44 in afternoon trading. The shares reached a new all-time high of $19.84 earlier in the session.

Credit: WPX Energy Inc (NYSE:WPX)

Contrarian hedge fund manager Kass thinks stocks ripe for fall (Sun-Sentinel)
Hedge fund manager Douglas Kass has always been a contrarian, whether it’s predicting a “bear” market when the Dow and the S&P 500 both topped new record highs earlier in the week or deciding to put down roots in Palm Beach County, far from most other portfolio managers. “I am wired as a contrarian so I prefer to stay away from ‘Group Think’ or as I call ‘Group Stink,'” Kass quips. But Kass has been on the money, from predicting Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway stock would falter to warning Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) stock was overpriced, just before the famed company’s stock took a tumble. Buffet was so impressed with Kass that he invited him to sound off about why investing in Buffet’s Berkshire is a bad idea.

US hedge fund to pick 49% in Nitesh Estates’ SPV (Times of India)
New York-headquartered Forum Capital Partners, a $6 billion global hedge fund focused on the real estate market, is investing Rs 300 crore for a 49% stake in a special purpose vehicle (SPV) floated by south-based developer Nitesh Estates, said sources briefed on the matter. The BSE listed developer is carving out 5-million sqft of marquee residential projects with total sale value of Rs 2,500 crore across Bangalore, Chennai and Goa into a SPV, Nitesh Housing Developers. Sources citied earlier…