Buffett: Coke exec compensation plan was excessive (Fortune)
Warren Buffett called The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO)‘s controversial compensation plan excessive, but said he declined to vote against it. The plan — which will pay Coke managers generously with shares of the company if they achieve specific performance goals — passed on Wednesday at Coke’s annual meeting, but without Buffett’s help. Buffett said he abstained in the vote. Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A), Buffett’s insurance conglomerate, is one of the largest owners of Coke’s stock, with a little over 9% of the company’s shares.
John Paulson Says Puerto Rico Will Be Singapore of Caribbean (1) (Businessweek)
Billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson said today that Puerto Rico’s economy is at the beginning of a turnaround and predicted the island will become the Singapore of the Caribbean. Paulson, speaking today at the 2014 Puerto Rico Investment Summit in San Juan, a conference designed to promote the territory and attract investors, said he’s building a home in the commonwealth. The hedge-fund manager, who last year considered relocating to Puerto Rico to take advantage of new tax laws, said opportunities to buy real estate in the region won’t last much longer, and he’s looking to purchase sites that can be developed to serve people he expects to move here because of the legislation.
Hedge Fund Billionaire Tom Steyer Comes Under Republican Attack (Forbes)
When liberal billionaire Tom Steyer ran his hedge fund firm, he worked so hard to stay under the radar that his Farallon Capital Management was known as a secretive operation in the investment community. He avoided publicly and guarded his privacy even as Farallon became one of the largest hedge funds in the nation. But now Steyer is pursuing an aggressive financial campaign to support Democratic candidates and push climate change measures on both the federal and state level, sometimes by using stinging attack ads. He is backing his NextGen Climate Action group with $50 million and hoping to raise another $50 million from donors. That would make it one of the biggest outside political groups in the country.
Proxy Advisers Offer Differing Opinions on Dan Loeb’s Election to Sotheby’s Board — Update (Wall Street Journal)
Influential shareholder advisers were mixed in their analyses of the ongoing fight between Sothebys (NYSE:BID) and activist investor Dan Loeb, who is looking to shake up the art-auction house’s board. Mr. Loeb gained a significant ally in his campaign Thursday when Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. recommended he be elected to Sotheby’s board. Rival advisory firm Glass, Lewis & Co., however, said Mr. Loeb hasn’t built a strong enough case for a board makeover and recommended in favor of the company’s management.
Hedge fund Greenlight Capital warns of tech stock bubble (SFGate)
Greenlight Capital Inc., the $10.3 billion hedge fund firm run by David Einhorn, said it is betting against a group of technology stocks as evidence grows of a bubble. “There is a clear consensus that we are witnessing our second tech bubble in 15 years,” the New York firm said in a letter to clients this week. “The current bubble is an echo of the previous tech bubble with fewer larger capitalization stocks and much less public enthusiasm.”
Hedge fund Marcato Capital Management makes new bet on Dillard’s (Reuters)
Hedge fund manager Mick McGuire of Marcato Capital Management has taken a new position in Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS) and is betting the retailer’s stock can climb to $155 a share, which would mark a 62 percent gain from its current level. McGuire said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that the department store operator has been turning itself around by closing underperforming stores, cutting expenses and buying back shares. He did not reveal the size of Marcato’s stake.
Hedge-Fund Firm Renews Lease with Outdoor Space at 632 Bway (Commercial Observer)
Investment firm Serengeti Asset Management has renewed its lease, which includes a 3,000-square-foot private roof deck, at 632 Broadway. The company, with a $1.5 billion portfolio of debt and equity investments under its management, occupies 11,750 square feet of indoor space spanning the entire 12th floor at the building, which is between East Houston and Bleecker Streets. The new top-floor lease expires April 30, 2019, said Nora Stats of Coldwell Banker Commercial (CBC) Alliance, who represented both Serengeti and the landlord, Renaissance Properties, in the transaction. The original lease was for seven years.
Bill Daley to join hedge fund (Financial Times)
Bill Daley, the former White House chief of staff, is to join the hedge fund Argentière Capital, which was founded last year by leaders of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM)’s disbanded proprietary trading division. Mr Daley, who was also Commerce Secretary under President Bill Clinton, joins a number of former Obama administration officials to have taken jobs in the financial sector. He has eschewed a return to a large investment bank or private equity house, however, and instead signed on with a start-up fund with just $500m in assets under management.
Hedge fund manager Ackman promised ex-Herbalife exec as much as $3.6 mln -report (Reuters)
Hedge fund manager William Ackman secretly promised a former Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) executive-turned-whistleblower as much as $3.6 million in case he lost the job he took after leaving Herbalife, ABC News reported on Tuesday on its website. Ackman, the manager of Pershing Square Capital Management who has heavily shorted Herbalife’s stock in the hopes that share prices would fall, told ABC News that he had already paid Giovanni Bohorquez, the former executive, $80,000 because “it was the right thing to do.”
Hedge funds said mulling ‘shadow’ fund services (Asian Investor)
The rising tide of regulatory and compliance requirements for hedge fund managers are prompting some to look at using ‘shadow’ fund administrators as a check on their primary administrator. Interest in the practice has grown since $120 billion US hedge fund Bridgewater Associates hired Northern Trust Corporation (NASDAQ:NTRS) last year to ‘shadow’ fund administration work being been carried out by The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE:BK). This is something that has been going on in Asia for some time, says Michael Langton, head of sales and marketing at Quality Risk Management & Operations.
