SEC Gets Subpoena In Steve Cohen Divorce Suit (Law360)
Patricia Cohen, the ex-wife of SAC Capital Advisors LP founder Steven Cohen, has subpoenaed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in her fraud suit alleging the hedge fund boss hid assets during their 1990 divorce, according to a Friday court filing in New York. The subpoena was served on May 19, but no documents have been produced in response, according to a joint letter from the parties to Judge Loretta Preska. The letter did not state which specific records Patricia Cohen was seeking.
George Soros’ top dividend picks (MarketWatch)
George Soros is one of the best-known investors in the world. His fund holds an equity portfolio worth more than $10 billion. Among the fund’s holdings, many pay dividends of more than 1% of their current trading prices. In this article, we will look into five stocks among Soros’ top picks that yield dividends of more than 3%. American Capital Agency Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC) is an $8.26 billion market cap real estate investment trust that invests exclusively in residential mortgage pass-through securities and collateralized mortgage obligations on a leveraged basis, in which Soros holds a 1.517 million shares position, worth about $32 million.
Coatue Bids Farewell to Noto Before He Starts (Wall Street Journal)
Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) investors may be cheering the company’s hiring of Anthony Noto as its new CFO, but his move is a loss for Coatue Management LLC, the roughly $9 billion New York hedge-fund firm he was supposed to start at this week. Coatue Founder Philippe Laffont had called Mr. Noto “a key addition to our private investing effort” back in May, when Mr. Noto, a top Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) banker who shepherded Twitter Inc.’s IPO, announced his planned move to Coatue. The hire leavened the attention Coatue had attracted earlier in the year for losses in its main fund amid the broader sell-off in technology stocks.
Pershing Square Said to Hire Credit Suisse for Allergan Fight (New York Times)
Wall Street banks tend to defend companies against activist investors. But at least one bulge-bracket institution has aligned itself with William A. Ackman, one of the biggest dissident shareholders around, as he takes on the Botox maker Allergan, Inc. (NYSE:AGN). Mr. Ackman’s firm, Pershing Square Capital Management, has hired Credit Suisse Group AG (ADR) (NYSE:CS) as an adviser in its fight, people briefed on the matter said on Tuesday. Pershing Square, whose 9.7 percent stake makes it Allergan’s biggest shareholder, is pushing the drug maker into a $53 billion sale to a fellow pharmaceutical company, Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX).
Fortress, Avenue Founders Nab Nets Coach For Bucks (FINalternatives)
Wesley Edens and Marc Lasry have made quite a splash at their latest investment, snatching a high-profile coach for their Milwaukee Bucks. The co-founders of Fortress Investment Group and Avenue Capital Group, respectively, have hired former star player Jason Kidd to coach their new basketball team. Kidd, widely considered a future Hall of Famer for his 20-year playing career, coached the Brooklyn Nets to a first-round playoff victory last year—his first as a coach.
Is Fed feeding flames of inflation? (CNBC.com)
Whitney Hedge Fund Cuts 2014 Losses to 4.7% on June Gain (Bloomberg)
Meredith Whitney, the former Wall Street analyst who started a hedge fund with backing from British billionaire Michael Platt, lost 4.7 percent this year in her fund, according to an investor letter. Whitney’s American Revival Fund LP, which started in November with about $50 million, posted a 1.7 percent gain in June, ending five months of losses, according to the letter sent today from her New York firm Kenbelle Capital LP. The fund is down 1 percent since inception. Whitney, who seeks to profit from what she predicts will be the next cycle of growth in “America’s Heartland,” said she repositioned her holdings in late May toward regional financial companies, according to the letter.
LightSquared Unveils Plan Led by Cerberus, Fortress, J.P. Morgan (Wall Street Journal)
Philip Falcone‘s LightSquared on Tuesday unveiled a $3.05 billion restructuring plan that would give 74% of the wireless venture to Cerberus Capital Management LP, Fortress Investment Group LLC and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), and leave Mr. Falcone with just 12.5% of the reorganized company’s equity. Investors would pump $1.75 billion of new money into LightSquared, with Cerberus, Fortress and J.P. Morgan contributing a bulk of that, lawyers told Judge Shelley C. Chapman of U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan. An additional $1.3 billion would be raised through the debt markets. The company wants its plan, which isn’t finalized and hasn’t been filed with the court, to be approved by the end of September.
Cyber Criminals Targeting Hedge Funds (FINalternatives)
Hedge funds are increasingly the targets of cyber attacks, according to the SEC. Assured SKCG, a risk management and insurance provider to the alternative asset industry, said managers are seriously considering cyber liability insurance as a response: “Just last week it was reported that a large hedge fund was targeted by cybercriminals who crippled the fund’s trading strategy and sent proprietary information to off-site computers. This is just one example of the cyber threats faced in the 21st century by all hedge funds,” said Wayne Siebner, SVP of Assured SKCG, in a statement.
Tory fundraising party: Bank official denies his attendance breached rules (The Guardian)
A multi-millionaire former Goldman Sachs banker who was appointed by George Osborne to sit on the Bank of England’s most senior regulatory committee was among those who attended the Tory fundraising party last summer, weeks after giving assurances to parliament that he would not let his past political connections compromise his independence. Richard Sharp, who was appointed to the Bank’s financial policy committee (FPC) last March, was one of 73 financial professionals – hedge fund bosses, private equity barons, bankers and wealth managers – present at the event in the City of London, according to documents seen by the Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Some of Mayfair and Belgravia’s most powerful hedge fund names turned out, led by prized party donors Sir Michael Hintze of CQS and Andrew Law of Caxton – both also ex-Goldman executives.
R.I. has stake in hedge fund angling for Massachusetts casino license (The Providence Journal)
The looming threat to Rhode Island’s finances from the advent of casino gambling in Massachusetts brings with it a potentially awkward twist for state officials — the pension funds they oversee may gain from the money and jobs to be lost at Twin River Casino and Newport Grand. Among the investments the state holds as part of its $7-billion pension fund is a $57.5-million stake in a hedge fund angling for a Massachusetts casino license. Recent disclosures made as part of the Massachusetts casino licensing process include the revelation that the controlling stake of one applicant for a Boston area casino license — seen as the most lucrative of the licenses — belongs to Brigade Leveraged Capital Structures Fund LP.
