Billionaire investor Wilbur Ross in new Irish property deal with Cardinal Capital (Independent)
The US billionaire’s firm and Irish investment house Cardinal have signed a joint venture which aims to raise €400m for property investments. The new fund will be open to new investors as well as those who backed Wilbur Ross previously on deals including his successful Bank of Ireland (ADR) (NYSE:IRE) play. …Mezzanine finance is a relatively risky form of investments that bridges the gap between loans and pure equity – a mezzanine provider typical charges interest but unlike traditional lenders is well back in the queue to be repaid if a deal fails.
Chinese port probe may spread to iron ore, soybeans -hedge fund (Reuters)
The Chinese probe into financing of copper and aluminium may spread to other commodities such as iron ore and soybeans, an executive of a commodity hedge fund said on Wednesday. Banks and trading houses have been making urgent checks on the security of metal holdings in China, sparked by a suspected fraud at Qingdao Port, the world’s seventh biggest. Police are investigating the duplication of warehouse receipts by a third-party firm on metal cargos used to obtain financing.
Research Report Still Has Polygon Reeling (Finalternatives)
Polygon Investment Partners was mad last month over a research report attacking one of its largest investments, and it’s even madder now. Polygon’s 11-month winning streak was snapped in April, after Gotham City Research called Quindell Portfolio “a country club built on quicksand” whose shares are worth no more than £0.03. The firm distributed its report to a number of hedge funds, sending its shares plummeting. Those losses extended into last month, sending Polygon down 1.39% and cutting its year-to-date gains to 8.69%.
Ex-China Sovereign Manager Plans Hedge Fund (Finalternatives)
A former top stock manager at China’s sovereign wealth fund is set to launch a long-biased hedge fund focused on the country. Yu Bin, who served as managing director of public equities at the China Investment Corp., left the fund earlier this year for personal reasons after five years. Among his responsibilities at the US$650 billion SWF was allocating to external long-only stock funds, the demand for which he now hopes to tap. “For anyone interested in value and performance over the long term, this should be a great opportunity for managers, such as Yu Bin, looking to launch long-biased China funds,” Eurekahedge CEO Alex Mearns told Bloomberg News.
Lorrie Landis joins Robin Judson Partners (Greenwich-Post)
Robin Judson Partners, an executive recruiting firm focused on hedge funds, private equity and investment banking, has appointed Greenwich resident Lorrie Landis as a Managing Director. In this role, Ms. Landis will serve as a senior recruiter on the Robin Judson Partners team. She will be responsible for positions in research, marketing, trading and portfolio management. “Robin Judson Partners is the premiere search firm for asset management which fits seamlessly with my experience,” Ms. Landis said.
Activist Hedge Fund Firms Eye European Targets (InstitutionalInvestor)
Last October William Ackman, founder of New York hedge fund firm Pershing Square Capital Management, announced to an audience at Oxford University’s Said Business School that shareholder activism – largely a pursuit particular to U.S. hedge fund titans – “is going to happen” in Europe. The dots began to connect when news broke this spring that Ackman was raising money for a closed-end fund that could possibly list on the London Stock Exchange this summer. The wave of U.S. activism of the past few years has largely remained on the western shore of the Atlantic. In the meantime, European companies have been watching and taking notes…
Cramer’s Mad Dash: Ulta’s terrific quarter (CNBC)
BlackRock Hires Harvard’s McKenna for Event Driven Fund (BusinessWeek)
BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) hired Harvard Management Co.’s Mark McKenna to start an event-driven hedge fund as the world’s largest asset manager seeks to expand its alternative investment business. McKenna, 43, will be based in New York and lead a new team focused on global events including corporate takeovers, divestitures, and management changes to generate returns, according to a memo dated June 9 provided by the company. He is expected to start a new fund this year and will report to Carl Eifler in hedge-fund strategies.
Wells Just Weeks Away From Launching Self-Cleared Prime (Finalternatives)
Two years after buying its way into the hedge fund services business, Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) is set to expand its prime brokerage. The bank plans to launch a self-cleared prime brokerage business by the end of the month, Risk reports. Wells has been working on the service since its 2012 acquisition of Merlin Securities, an introducing broker that offered hedge funds access to Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)’ and JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM)’s prime-brokerage services. The new business will initially support only U.S. assets. Wells prime-brokerage chief Eamon McCooey said that it will debut in “a couple of weeks”—pending regulatory approval—and will expand “over the next five years to accommodate more clients and strategies.”
LPs Lining Up for Access to Lonestar Team (HFAlert)
Two investment professionals who worked together at San Francisco fund shop Lonestar Capital are starting a hedge fund business in Canada. Len Kipp and Xavier Majic, both Canadians, are set to open Maple Rock Capital of Toronto, with plans to launch their debut fund on Jan. 1. The vehicle will take long and short positions in both equity and debt, hunting for value opportunities globally. That’s similar to the work they did at Lonestar, a nearly $1 billion fund operation that has been largely closed to new investments for years. Indeed, pent-up demand for Lonestar may be why Maple Rock is on track to launch with $400 million. Investors have been quick to embrace the planned fund since marketing began early in the second quarter. Once the vehicle begins trading, Kipp and Majic plan to impose a 30-month moratorium on fund raising.
Hedge Fund Group Offers Free Membership To Women (AssociationsNow)
In an effort to diversify both its organization and its industry, the Hedge Fund Association is offering complimentary membership to women hedge fund professionals for six months. The offer is tied to a recent announcement [PDF] that HFA added three women to leadership positions in the organization. “The goal is to increase involvement of women in the marketplace,” said Ron Geffner, the association’s vice president. “We prefer to see more involvement by a broader demographic, and we’d like to support the better half.”
Soros Has Big Plans For This Energy Stock (Nasdaq)
George Soros is a macro investor: He looks at the big picture, identifies a theme… and then homes in on the best way to profit from that theme. His strategy involves looking at government and central bank policies, industry trends, and the economy — but one tactic that he has typically avoided is activist investing. Soros usually leaves that for the likes of Carl Icahn , Bill Ackman and Dan Loeb. However, when Soros — with a net worth of $25 billion — decides to become a company’s largest shareholder and assume an activist role, he should not be taken lightly. Soros has taken on just such a role with Penn Virginia Corporation (NYSE:PVA).
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