People Moves: Hedge Fund Veteran Lionel Erdely Joins Investcorp (HedgeCo)
Industry veteran Lionel Erdely has joined Investcorp’s New York-based hedge fund group as Head of Hedge Funds and Chief Investment Officer. Erdely joins Investcorp from Lyxor Asset Management, a subsidiary of Societe Generale Group with approximately $100 billion of assets under management, where he has served as Chief Investment Officer since 2004 and CEO of Lyxor Inc since 2009.
Former Hedge Fund Consultant Readies Quantitative Launch (Finalternatives)
New hedge fund Orso Capital Management is set to launch its maiden offering, a quantitative stock fund. Quadrant Plus Partners will aim for long-term growth investing exclusively in Standard & Poors’ 500 and Russell 2000 index constituents, Orso founder Andrew Lydon said. Lydon established Orso—which he notes means “bear” in Latin, “because of the strategy’s ability to succeed even in bear markets”—earlier this year after running an eponymous hedge fund analysis, modeling and due-diligence company.
Roubini’s rubicon: No DC deal could mean recession (MoneyControl)
A failure of Congress and the White House to strike a debt ceiling agreement could have profound consequences for the US economy, economist Nouriel Roubini told CNBC on Monday. Amid an ongoing debate about the impact of the US even temporarily breaching its statutory borrowing limit, the economist known as “Doctor Doom” warned that breaching the USD 17 trillion debt limit could tip the economy into a new down curve.
Herbalife Director Dunn Predicts ‘Clean’ New Audits (Bloomberg)
Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) Director Jeff Dunn said he expects a “clean read” when PricewaterhouseCoopers LP finishes new audits of the company’s books amid allegations by hedge fund manager Bill Ackman that it’s a pyramid scheme. The nutrition company hired PricewaterhouseCoopers in May after its previous accounting firm, KPMG LLP, resigned because of alleged insider trading by an auditor. PricewaterhouseCoopers is re-auditing statements for 2010 through 2012. In August, Ackman sent a 52-page letter urging the auditor to pay attention to “serious accounting and disclosure issues.”
Hedge funds target Puerto Rico debt (FT)
Hedge funds and managers of distressed assets have been buying debt sold by Puerto Rico, as traditional municipal bond investors shun the securities amid worries about the island’s finances. “Crossover” investors were betting that prices have fallen enough for them to benefit whether the Caribbean island recovered from a multiyear recession or had to restructure its massive debt pile, hedge fund managers in the US and Europe said. An S&P index of the value of Puerto Rican municipal debt has fallen almost 25 per cent since the end of May. Borrowing costs have risen to record levels in spite of measures by Governor Alejandro Padilla aimed at balancing the budget.
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