Schroders seeks Paulson-like ‘opportunities’ (Financial News)
Assets under management have hit a record high at Schroders and the firm has hedge funds in its sights, recently raising funds for veteran investor John Paulson. The news comes as the UK asset manager is looking to further expand its alternative investment GAIA – Global Alternatives Investor Access – platform. This week, Schroders announced that it was launching Schroder GAIA Paulson Merger Arbitrage fund, which will be externally managed by Paulson, the man best-known for making huge gains from the collapse of the sub-prime mortgage market.
Warren Buffet is still the master (Market Intelligence Center)
This Saturday, May 3, the hottest show in the country, and the hardest for which to score a ticket, will be Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A)’s Annual Shareholder Meeting, held in Omaha, Nebraska. Everyone will be there for the same reason: to bask in the presence of the master investor, Warren Buffett, who’s patient investment strategy is enjoying a recent surge in credibility, thanks to a market that now seems determined to burn the wings off of every high-flying Icarus stock. It always feels a bit odd to defend Buffet; his record calls for celebration, not defense. Nevertheless, Buffet is very successful and very high-profile, so if a shot can be taken at him, it always is.
Hedge honcho: Activists killing ‘golden goose’ (CNBC.com)
Jeffrey Ubben, founder of $14 billion activist hedge fund firm ValueAct Capital, believes that some of his fellow corporate agitators are doing undue harm to companies. “We better be careful we don’t kill the golden goose. I think the media has to call out some of this stuff and not just celebrate the quote unquote victories of activist investors,” Ubben said Tuesday on an activist investment panel at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles. “Companies might want to push back more because there is some bad behavior going on.” Ubben cited Keith Meister‘s recent investment via Corvex in security company ADT Corp (NYSE:ADT) as an example of destructive activism.
MHR Fund Management Increased its Stake in Titan International Inc (TWI) (Insider Monkey)
For the fourth time in the past three months, Mark Rachesky‘s MHR Fund Management reveals an increased stake in Titan International Inc (NYSE:TWI). A recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that the fund’s current position amounts to 7.00 million shares – 13.10% of the company’s common stock, up from the previously held 6.17 million. In 2012, Titan Tire Corporation acquired Goodyear’s Latin American farm tire business in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The next year, Titan International, in partnership with the Russian Direct Investment Fund and One Equity Partners, the company closed a $94.00 million acquisition of 85.00% interest in Voltyre-Prom, a Russian producer of agricultural and industrial tires.
Hedge-Fund Startups Adapt to New Singapore Rules: Southeast Asia (Bloomberg)
When Gaurav Bansal’s lawyers told him about Singapore’s tightened hedge-fund rules introduced in August 2012, he faced the prospect of spiraling costs to meet the demands for starting his own fund. The solution was to sign up with Swiss-Asia Financial Services Pte, which provides infrastructure, office space and services to meet compliance requirements and is licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. “The regulatory change threw a spanner in the works,” said Bansal, 40, who started his Salmon Global Fund with $4 million of assets in March under the Swiss-Asia Financial umbrella. “They really came to my rescue.”
David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital up 4.3 percent in April: sources (Reuters)
David Einhorn‘s Greenlight Capital Inc. posted returns of 4.3 percent in April, owing to his short bets against high-flying momentum stocks and its holdings of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU), according to sources familiar with the hedge fund on Thursday. The April gains brought the $10 billion hedge fund’s gains to 3.1 percent for this year to date. Greenlight, which was down 1.5 percent in the first quarter, said in a letter last week that the hedge fund had started shorting a group of momentum stocks that the firm did not identify.
