Hedge Fund News: Bill Ackman, Daniel Loeb & Paul Singer

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Shale Revolution Lures Trading Houses to Energy Assets (Bloomberg)
Merchants from Vitol Group, the largest independent oil trader, to a company backed by billionaire Paul Tudor Jones are amassing physical energy assets in the U.S. at an unprecedented rate as shale output revives stagnant fuels markets. Castleton Commodities International LLC, financed in part by hedge fund managers Tudor Jones and Glenn Dubin, acquired Texas gas wells in February. Mercuria Energy Group Ltd. is buying JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)’s physical commodities business. Vitol and Trafigura AG are helping build oil pipelines, and Freepoint Commodities LLC is investing in offshore production. Of the $1 billion Trafigura has invested in the U.S., the majority was spent in the past five years, the company said.

Hedge Funds Replace Banks as Europe Property Lenders (Businessweek)
Investors in commercial mortgage bonds have grown so tired of waiting for Europe’s market to recover after the financial crisis that they are now lending directly to property developers. Cheyne Capital Management (UK) LLP and Insight Investment Management Ltd. are among investors making loans. Firms started by former JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) banker Bill Winters and hedge fund manager Alistair Lumsden are raising money to lend, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Ex-SAC manager plans to start Pan-Asian fund… ex-Soros hedge fund hires ex-Goldman exec as CFO… (HedgeWeek)
Bloomberg reports that Andrew Bazarian, a former manager at SAC Capital Advisors LP, plans to start his own Pan-Asian hedge fund betting on rising and falling stocks, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Bazarian left SAC’s Hong Kong office in early March, according to licensing data posted on the website of the city’s Securities and Futures Commission. He was one of four responsible officers in the firm’s Hong Kong office at the time of his departure, according to the data. The Stamford, Connecticut-based hedge-fund firm headed by billionaire Steven A. Cohen reached a record USD1.8 billion settlement over a US government probe of insider trading.

Och-Ziff reports lower profit but beats expectations (Reuters)
Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC (NYSE:OZM) reported a lower quarterly profit, but the hedge fund still beat analysts’ expectations as billions of dollars in new money flowed into its portfolios and helped offset lower earnings by its funds. First-quarter distributable earnings, excluding costs related to its November 2007 initial public offering, totaled $127.8 million, down from $136.9 million a year ago, Och-Ziff reported on Friday. The company earned 25 cents a share, less than last year’s 29 cents a share, but far more than the 16 cents Wall Street analysts had expected, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.


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