Profits Soaring After Disgrace at Cohen’s Hedge Fund (NYTimes)
Three months after his once-powerful hedge fund entered a guilty plea to insider trading charges, Steven A. Cohen is doing quite well. This summer, Mr. Cohen and his family rented a yacht off the Greek islands for a vacation. An avid art collector, Mr. Cohen attended Art Basel in Switzerland in June. And last weekend, he and his wife, Alexandra, were guests at a charitable event at the Hamptons home of the comedian Jerry Seinfeld and his wife, Jessica. Most of all, Mr. Cohen, 58, is continuing to do what he has done best for more than two decades: make an astounding amount of money from trading stocks and bonds.
Hedge fund manager fails to shake off bulk of £3m fine (FTAdviser)
The Tax and Chancery Chamber’s Upper Tribunal has confirmed the Financial Services Authority’s decision to ban Alberto Micalizzi from performing any role in regulated financial services and upheld an only marginally reduced fine of £2.7m. In May 2012 the previous regulator, the FSA, banned and fined Mr Micalizzi, the former chief executive officer of hedge fund manager Dynamic Decisions Capital Management Ltd, for concealing masterfund losses and lying to investors about the true position of his fund. Mr Micalizzi referred the case to the Upper Tribunal.
Ramius, State Street In Managed Futures Mutual Fund Deal (Finalternatives)
Ramius Capital has asked investors to let it turn over management of an alternative mutual fund to State Street Global Advisors. The hedge-fund arm of Cowen Group said it hoped to hire SSgA as the sub-advisor to its Ramius Trading Strategies Managed Futures Fund. Under the plan, SSgA would then hire the open-end mutual fund’s management team to continue running the fund, while Ramius would continue to provide back-office, operational due-diligence and marketing services to the fund.
Merger Mania Pays Off for Farallon — To a Point (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
Farallon Capital Management has made a big bet on the boom in mergers, which has played a major role in its profitability so far this year. The San Francisco-based multistrategy hedge fund firm headed by Andrew Spokes aggressively lifted its exposure to merger arbitrage from 17.2 percent to 33.1 percent in the second quarter alone, according to a report from a fund-of-funds firm with an investment in Farallon. The decision clearly has paid off. The firm’s risk arbitrage strategy posted a gain of 7 percent in the first half…
Airbus eyes Dassault stake sale as profits rise (FT)
Airbus said it was considering selling its stake in Dassault Aviation as the European aircraft manufacturer reported a 10 per cent rise in operating profit and gave an upbeat assessment for the commercial jetliner market. The company said it was continuing to “pursue disposal options” for its politically sensitive 46 per cent stake in the French aerospace and defence group, which makes the Rafale fighter jet. Last year TCI, the activist hedge fund, urged Airbus to sell the roughly €5bn stake and redistribute the money to shareholders, saying that it was “a poor use of capital” with “no synergies” and “limited strategic value”.
Cramer… the line that made Twitter rise (CNBC)
Gov. Pat Quinn: Reboot Illinois poll with huge Bruce Rauner lead ‘phony-baloney’ (Examiner)
A new poll was released today by Reboot Illinois, a right-leaning news website, showed Governor Pat Quinn trailing Bruce Rauner, his Republican opponent by 14 points. The poll showed a four point increase for Rauner over a June poll that showed him with a ten point lead. The pollster claims that the results were because of an acceptance of Rauner’s tax and budget proposal. Reboot Illinois was founded by billionaire hedge fund manager, Ann Dias Griffin, and she is also a donor to the Rauner campaign in the form of a $5,000 donation. Her estranged husband Ken Griffin, also a hedge fund manager, has donated $2.5 million to Rauner.
Beware of hedge funds bearing gifts, the easiest way to rob a bank is to run one (Independent)
The term shadow banking system was coined by my former boss, the economist Paul McCulley, to describe the activities of all sorts of funds that are in his words “a whole alphabet soup of levered-up investment conduits, vehicles and structures”. The term perfectly captures the nature of a business, which significantly contributed to the global economic crisis. A shadow banking system is a parallel banking system. It behaves like a banking system but it’s not. It is all sorts of investment funds which lend money.
Irish Firm Launches US Hedge Fund AIFM Services (HedgeCo)
Capita Financial Managers Limited announced it has been granted an alternative investment fund manager (AIFM) licence by the Central Bank of Ireland. “AIFMD requires fund managers to comply with a new and extensive set of regulations that affect transparency, the conduct of business, remuneration, leverage and reporting.” Paul Nunan, managing director of Capita’s fund solution business in Ireland, said, “When it was introduced, many U.S. managers believed its cost, complexity and requirements would prove to be a bridge too far, but necessity is the mother of invention.
El Paso County eyes hedge fund-of-funds managers (PIOnline)
El Paso County Retirement Plan, Colorado Springs, Colo., will hear recommendations on potential hedge fund-of-funds managers from its investment consultant, Watershed Investment Consultants, at its Aug. 25 board meeting, said Tom Pfeifle, executive director. Any potential allocation will likely be discussed at the meeting. Mr. Pfeifle referred additional questions on the search process to Dale Connors, managing director and co-founder of Watershed Investment Consultants. Mr. Connors did not immediately return a telephone call seeking more information.
BUFFETTS TAKE ON RICKETTSES IN NEBRASKA BILLIONAIRE-BACKED RACE (ColumbusCEO)
Chuck Hassebrook, Nebraska Democrats’ best chance in two decades for winning a governor’s race, stands at a hotel ballroom podium in an Omaha suburb and takes aim at his Republican opponent Pete Ricketts, the son of billionaire TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts. …The crowd reacts to the trust-funder trashing with delight, though one supporter is absent: Hassebrook’s honorary campaign co-Chairman Susan Buffett, the daughter of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) Chief Executive Officer Warren Buffett.
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