How Much Does it Cost to Have Lunch with Warren Buffett? (Chinatopix)
If you think the first lunch date you had with your girlfriend was already the world’s most expensive date, think again. Having a lunch date with billionaire investor Warren Buffett could cost up to US $3.5 million. Warren Buffett, the CEO of global investment powerhouse Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A), is once again asking for one of the most expensive lunches in the world in a bidding that once fetched US $3.5 million in recent years. This year’s bidding for a lunch date with Buffet was posted on eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) with a starting bid of US $25,000, the New York Times reported…
Hedge fund services firm Rothstein Kass’ employees join KPMG following agreement (TheLawyer)
The agreement brings together KPMG’s expansive alternative investments presence and global reach with Rothstein Kass’ industry leading expertise and personnel. According to KPMG, the deal is a powerful demonstration of KPMG’s strength in and commitment to serving the broader alternative investments industry and capital markets, including hedge funds, private equity, real estate, infrastructure, and other segments of this important industry. The transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks, and terms of the agreement will not be disclosed.
Political-spending hypocrisy masks big policy questions (OJG)
In high-level fights over political spending, more is at stake for the oil and gas industry than tiresome hypocrisy. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has become obsessed with libertarian billionaires Charles and David Koch, calling their financial support of Republicans un-American and immoral. But what about hedge-fund tycoon Tom Steyer, who promises to spend $50 million of his own and a like amount from others to support Democrats in this year’s elections? “We need people like Tom Steyer,” Reid cooed to E&E Daily after speaking at a May 20 screening of a film bashing the Koch brothers.
Levett Returns to Bacon’s Moore After Shutting Hedge Fund (Bloomberg)
Chris Levett, who shut his commodity hedge-fund firm in 2013 after it posted almost three straight years of losses, plans to return to the industry with billionaire Louis Bacon’s Moore Capital Management LLC. Levett, 44, will join New York-based Moore in London in September as a money manager, a spokesman for the New York-based firm said today. He managed as much as $5.1 billion at Clive Capital LLP in 2011, making it one of the biggest commodity funds in the world at the time. Levett previously worked at Moore before starting Clive in 2007.
Stocks begin week with jump (BayStreet)
Stocks started out strong in Toronto, after strong Chinese manufacturing data reinforced views that the world’s second-largest economy is regaining momentum. The S&P/TSX composite index improved 57.71 points to begin a new week at 14,661.87. The Canadian dollar tumbled 0.48 cents to 91.74 cents U.S. Trucker TransForce Inc said it would buy truckload transport and logistics company Transport America for $310 million, including debt, from private equity firm Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison Inc. TransForce shares gave back 10 cents early Monday to $23.60. Bloomberg reported this morning that Royal Bank of Canada may invest as much as $1 billion in a hedge fund spun off from its proprietary trading business. Shares in Canada’s largest bank took on 19 cents to $74.83.
Milwaukee Employes’ Retirement picks 3 hedge fund-of-funds finalists (PIOnline)
City of Milwaukee Employes’ Retirement System picked Corbin Capital Partners, Lighthouse Investment Partners and UBS Alternative and Quantitative Investments as finalists in a search for a hedge fund-of-funds manager to run $100 million, according to a posting on the $5 billion pension fund’s website. The allocation would be CMERS’ first to hedge funds. The pension fund’s investment committee plans to meet Thursday to interview representatives of the three firms and expects to make a hiring decision. CMERS plans to hire one manager.
CNBC.com hot list: Top hedge fund school (CNBC)
Chicago-Based Hedge Fund Manager Caught Conducting A Ponzi Scheme (HedgeCo)
Chicago-based investment fund manager Neal V. Goyal and two hedge fund advisers that he owned and controlled –Blue Horizon Asset Management and Caldera Advisors – are being charged with violating the antifraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933, Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5, and Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The SEC is seeking financial penalties, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, and a permanent injunction against Goyal, Blue Horizon Asset Management, and Caldera Advisors.
‘CLEAN ENERGY’ RUINED SPAIN; NOW OBAMA IS DRAGGING THE US OVER THE SAME GREEN PRECIPICE (Breitbart)
Mead was quite right, of course. And there was plenty of evidence to back him up, such as the 2009 report by a Madrid university professor Gabriel Calzada Alvarez that for every expensive “green job” created by government subsidy, 2.2 jobs were destroyed in the real economy. The Obama administration responded as only the Obama administration knows how: by calling in its left-wing attack dogs. Friendly organisations including George Soros’s Center for American Progress and various well-funded wind industry lobbyists were recruited to monster this unhelpful evidence, which was dismissed for its “lack of rigor.”
Funds Cut Bullish Gold Wagers Most This Year (Bloomberg)
Hedge funds pared bets on a gold rally at the fastest pace this year after prices capped the biggest monthly decline since December. Money managers trimmed their net-long position by 24 percent as a rally in U.S. equities to a record eroded the appeal of alternative assets. Short holdings are now the highest in 15 weeks and assets in exchange-traded products backed by metal the lowest since 2009. The value of ETP holdings contracted $2.6 billion in May, the worst month since the end of 2013, the year that marked the end of the bull market in gold. The Standard & Poor’s Total Return Index of 24 commodities fell for the first time since January, led by crops, natural gas and precious metals.
Hedge fund giants secure grip on industry despite lagging returns (Reuters)
The world’s biggest hedge funds are managing more money than ever before – even while the returns they provide look less attractive compared to those achieved by younger, smaller firms. Large institutions managing money for wealthy individuals have always tended to look towards well-established money managers but this trend has become more pronounced following the financial crisis. According to data from industry tracker Preqin some 90 percent of assets are now held by just 505 funds worth at least $1 billion.
David Einhorn’s Greenlight Posts Gains in May (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital continues its winning streak from last month. The New York–based equity hedge fund firm posted gains of 1.8 percent and 1.9 percent on its various hedge funds in May. Its Greenlight Capital Offshore fund has returned 4.6 percent through May, while Greenlight Capital Qualified has added 5 percent and Greenlight Capital has gained 5.1 percent. By comparison, the S&P 500 gained 2.1 percent in May and is now up 4.1 percent for the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.8 percent in May and is up the same amount for the year, while the Nasdaq Composite returned to positive territory in May,…
Did Argentina lie to the U.S. Supreme Court? (Reuters)
I may have been too quick to believe that Argentina actually intended to follow through on a pledge to the U.S. Supreme Court. Last Friday, I credited the Argentine government with an historic concession in its May 27 brief to the court, in which Argentina pledged to comply with an injunction from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals prohibiting it from making payments to holders of its restructured debt before paying off hedge funds that refused to exchange defaulted bonds.
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