Prosecutors in the insider-trading trial of Rajat Gupta have suggested he leaked information about Goldman Sachs to convicted hedge fund billionaire Raj Rajaratnam because he was secretly serving as an executive of his Galleon Group. Indian-American Gupta quietly served as an executive of Galleon while also serving on the boards of Goldman Sachs and Procter & Gamble, a witness testified Thursday at the Manhattan federal court trial.
Mutual Funds Push To Restrict Hedge Fund Ads (WSJ)
The mutual fund industry wants the Securities and Exchange Commission to impose restrictions on advertising by hedge funds and private equity funds now that such private funds will be allowed to engage in mass marketing. Hedge funds will soon be able to advertise broadly to the public thanks to a measure in the recently-passed JOBS Act that directed the SEC to repeal a longstanding ban on publicizing private securities offerings.
Hedge fund group Man and BP lead FTSE higher after May’s poor market performance (Guardian)
May saw the stock market’s worst monthly performance for more than three years, but June has begun on a brighter note. Despite poor Chinese manufacturing figures hinting at a slowdown in its economy, and continuing fears about the prospect of Spain needing a bailout, the FTSE 100 is currently 22.63 points higher at 5343.49. But with a host of other economic data due, including the UK purchasing managers index for May and US non-farm payrolls, as well as the result of the Irish referendum, another volatile day is in prospect. Indeed Simon Denham at Capital Spreads suggested the whole month could be quite hectic:
Ontario Power Authority offers U.S. hedge fund $82.3 million to settle Mississauga power plant dispute (TheStar)
The Ontario Power Authority offered to pay a U.S. hedge fund $82.3 million to settle a lawsuit over the province’s decision to cancel construction of a gas-fired power plant in Mississauga. But the hedge fund rejected the offer, according to New York Supreme Court records of a hearing held on May 11. The hearing involved, on one side, EIG Management LLC, described in the hearings as a hedge fund, and headquartered in Washington, D.C..
Hedge Fund Manager Reorganizes, Rebrands and Launches New Event-Driven Fund (SacBee)
Kellner DiLeo & Company, LLC, a more than three decade-old hedge fund manager, has been reorganized and renamed Kellner Capital, LLC (“the Firm”), and has launched a new event-driven investment fund. George Kellner, Founder and CEO, said, “The Firm has experienced exciting changes and we thought it appropriate to rebrand the organization.” The new fund launched with more than $50 mm in assets. “We believe our investment process which combines rigorous fundamental research with volatility trading provides an edge as we focus on niche opportunities which are less followed and undiscovered,” said Mr. Kellner.
European regulated hedge funds dominate RBC Dexia hedge fund book (Opalesque)
The Canadian Belgian partnership that is RBC Dexia will shortly be all Canadian as the Belgian company is completely bought out in a deal announced in April whereby RBC bought the 50% stake that it did not already own in the joint venture RBC Dexia from Banque Internationale à Luxembourg. The deal went through for a total consideration of 837.5 Euros ($1bn) in cash. Following the closing of the transaction RBC will own 100 per cent of RBC Dexia. RBC Dexia has built itself a top 10 global custodian, fund administration, shareholder and treasury services business, specialising in administering and providing custodian services for ‘regulated’ hedge funds, such as those that come in the Ucits format. Oliver Laurent is Director of Alternatives at RBC Dexia, responsible for North America, Europe and Asia and for hedge funds, funds of funds, OTC business and private equity in those areas. “We have a little more than 110 bn Euros ($137bn) in assets” he explains, with about 50bn Euros ($62bn) in hedge funds.
Turkish firm debuts new hedge fund (HFMWeek)
Istanbul-based securities firm Tacirler is to launch a new hedge fund Friday, as Turkish asset managers look to alternative investments to counteract a climate of unadventurous returns, HFMWeek can reveal. Apart from a slump in 2009, Turkey’s economy has enjoyed robust growth since the early 2000s. The price has been boring yields, with interest rates that are crushed by inflation, a precarious outlook for gold, a saturated property market and a weakening chance of riding the ups and downs of the domestic currency.
Drake and a hedge-fund billionaire, sitting in a (Twitter) tree: Today in viral weirdness (Music-Mix)
Ever wonder how the other 1 percent lives? Thanks to Drake and Texan oil tycoon-turned-wind enthusiast T. Boone Pickens, we now know that the megarich are just like us — and by just like us, we mean that they also have free Twitter accounts. The Canadian Degrassi star-turned-rap star and the swift-boating billionaire recently exchanged a high-profile series of tweets concerning the most obvious thing they have in common: obscene wealth.
JPMorgan’s Iksil Said To Take Big Risks Long Before Loss (Bloomberg)
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) trader Bruno Iksil, known as the London Whale because his bets this year were so large, has been a leviathan of a risk-taker since at least 2010, a person with knowledge of the matter said. Iksil’s value-at-risk, a measure of how much a trader might lose in one day, was typically $30 million to $40 million even before this year’s buildup, said the person, who wasn’t authorized to discuss the trades. Sometimes the figure, known as VaR, could surpass $60 million, the person said. That’s about as high as the level for the firm’s entire investment bank, which employs 26,000 people.
LME Said To Get Bidders’ Assurances To Keep Trading Floor (Bloomberg)
Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE) and Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd. pledged to keep the London Metal Exchange and its trading floor in the U.K. capital in their separate takeover proposals to the LME’s board, said two people with direct knowledge of the bids. The LME’s board met yesterday to review the offers, said the people, who declined to be identified because the details are still confidential. ICE, the second-largest U.S. futures market, and Hong Kong Exchanges, the world’s second-biggest exchange by market value, are the remaining contenders for the LME, which handles more than 80 percent of global trade in industrial metals futures. A possible takeover was announced last September when the LME said it had received “several expressions of interest.”
Senate Democratic ‘Super PAC’ raised $1.9 mln since March (Reuters)
Majority PAC, a “Super PAC” helping Democrats fight for seats in the U.S. Senate, raised $1.9 million in April and May, according to disclosure documents released on Thursday. The “super” political action committee had $2.7 million left in cash on hand by May 23, the filing with the Federal Election Commission showed. The group reports its election-related fundraising and spending once every quarter but the latest filing was required because of the Super PAC’s activity in Virginia, which holds a primary on June 12.
Reyl Resurgence fund of hedge funds beefs up credit, merger arb exposure (Opalesque)
Launched in April 2009, Reyls Resurgence fund of hedge funds currently manages $55m in AuM in 26 underlying hedge funds. The fund invests mainly in smaller funds generally sub-$700/$800m and allocates evenly to all managers. “This is because we believe that the high conviction versus low conviction investment methodology is not valid anymore,” Hasan Aslan, co-manager of the fund, told Opalesque in an interview. As the fund was born after the 2008 crisis, the fund managers are wary of the underlying funds liquidity. “We do not invest in funds that offer liquidity not in line with the liquidity of the underlying assets,” Aslan says. But the managers understand that some strategies such as distressed investing cannot offer less than quarterly liquidity terms.
St. Louis City adds MLPs, hikes high yield and hedge funds of funds (Pionline)
St. Louis City Employees’ Retirement System added master limited partnerships as a new asset class and increased its target allocations to high-yield bonds and hedge funds of funds, said Richard Olliges, accounting officer, in a phone interview. The changes are part of a new asset allocation approved by the $620 million pension fund’s board at its Tuesday meeting.
Fink kid is a big fat loser (NYPost)
Maybe he’s not a chip off the BlackRock after all. Josh Fink, the son of BlackRock chairman Larry Fink, is losing money hand over fist in his hedge fund, Enso Global Fund. Enso fell 60.5 percent last year, and is down more than 7 percent through April. As a result of the losses, the 34-year-old Fink now manages just $44 million, down from as much as $700 million in 2008.
