Tudor Just Picked Up Some Exposure To Loathed Emerging Markets (Barrons)
There aren’t many broad market exposures more distrusted right now than emerging markets. So: Are we about to see a stampede of hedge funds? Tudor Investment Corp., the hedge-fund firm run by Paul Tudor Jones, picked up 2.8 million shares of iShares Emerging Markets ETF (EEM) during the quarter ending Sept. 30. The firm also disclosed call options to buy another 10.8 million shares of the ETF. Take the disclosure with a grain of salt. We don’t even know for certain whether a manager is “long” a stock or fund, since 13-F filings don’t disclose every type of security the manager owns. But it would be in keeping with a contrarian view that seems to be getting more traction.
Not going anywhere for the foreseeable future: FedEx CEO Fred Smith (CNBC)
FedEx Corporation (NYSE:FDX) CEO Fred Smith told CNBC on Friday that he doesn’t plan on leaving the company in the near future, despite the recent introduction of controversial and activist hedge fund manager Dan Loeb as a major shareholder in his company. “Well the clock ticks on,” Smith said on “Squawk Box.” “We are are mortal, but I don’t plan on going anyplace in the near future.” Loeb, who has become known for writing acerbic letters to CEOs of companies in which he invests, revealed on CNBC this Tuesday that he bought a large stake in FedEx and met with Smith last week.
Paulson Raises Merger Bets by Adding to Vodafone, T-Mobile Stake (SFGate)
Paulson & Co., the $18 billion hedge-fund firm run by billionaire John Paulson, increased its stake in Vodafone Group Plc (ADR) (NASDAQ:VOD) in a bet the phone company may be a takeover target. Paulson & Co., which is based in New York, added 17 million American depositary receipts of Vodafone last quarter, bringing its holding to 20 million ADRs valued at $703.6 million as of Sept. 30, according to a regulatory filing yesterday. The firm also raised its stake in T MOBILE US INC (NYSE:TMUS), adding 2.76 million shares and bringing the total value of its holding to $504.7 million.
Hedge funds and equity managers invest in Third Point Re (Artemis)
Institutional hedge fund and equity investment managers have taken stakes in Bermuda-based reinsurer Third Point Reinsurance Ltd. The hedge-fund type reinsurer clearly resonates with large hedge funds such as Citadel and equity focused managers like Cambiar, both of which hold large stakes. Citadel LLC, a large hedge fund owned by investor Ken Griffin, with around $17 billion of assets, owned 2.12 million shares at the end of September, valued at around $30.7 million. Citadel previously had its own catastrophe reinsurance-linked vehicles, such as CIG Re founded in 2004 and New Castle Re founded in 2005, and clearly continues to find the reinsurance strategy attractive.
SEC Charges Hedge Fund Trader With Insider Trading in Carter’s Stock (NewsRoomAmerica)
The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced insider trading charges against a New York-based investment professional who used nonpublic information about youth clothing company Carter’s Inc. to give the hedge fund where he worked a $3.2 million trading edge. The SEC alleges that Mark Megalli obtained the inside information through a consulting agreement he had with the former vice president of investor relations at Carter’s, Eric Martin, who the SEC has previously charged among several others in its investigation into insider trading of Carter’s stock.
Returning to Japan, hedge funds bet this time is different (Reuters)
Japan, a frustration for the world’s sharpest hedge fund minds for more than a decade, is proving one of the industry’s biggest winners this year. Big names from New York to London have made billions betting that “Abenomics” – the monetary stimulus programme launched under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe – would send the yen sliding and stocks surging. And funds dedicated to Japanese markets have performed better than others – their percentage return on investments is more than triple the overall hedge fund average this year, according to data from Hedge Fund Research.
Leon Cooperman’s Q3 moves (CNBC)
Hedge funds tune into Pandora, discard Apple in third-quarter (Reuters)
Hedge funds took a liking to online music company Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) in the third quarter but soured on Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), according to regulatory filings published Thursday. Hedge funds including Philippe Laffont’s Coatue Management and Patrick McCormack’s Tiger Consumer Management both opened stakes in Pandora of about 1.1 million and 2.9 million shares, respectively, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings showed.
Hedge Fund Blackrock’s VP Wins Effecting Change Award, 100WHF Raised $1.27M (Hedgeco)
100 Women in Hedge Funds has raised $1.27 million for Best Buddies International through their New York Gala and other fundraising events in 2013. Best Buddies is a global nonprofit that creates opportunities for one-to-one friendship, integrated employment and leadership development for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). At last night’s Gala, 100WHF presented its 2013 Effecting Change Award to Barbara G. Novick, Vice Chairman of BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK) and its 2013 U.S. Industry Leadership Award to the late Karen Cook, Former Chief Investment Officer of Steinhardt Management Company, Inc.
Third Point Invests in Turkey’s Biggest Real Estate Company (SFGate)
Third Point LLC, the New York-based hedge fund headed by billionaire activist investor Daniel Loeb, bought $150 million of shares in the secondary public offering of Turkey’s biggest real estate company, Emlak Konut GYO, according to two people with knowledge of the transaction. The purchase is Third Point’s only investment in the Turkish equity market, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. That gives the hedge fund a stake of just under five percent, which is the mandatory disclosure limit in Turkey, the people said.
Sotheby’s, BofA, J.C. Penney attract hedge fund buyers (Reuters)
Top U.S. hedge fund managers in the third quarter zoned in on the consumer sector, with investment plays ranging from Sothebys (NYSE:BID), a high-end auction house that caters to millionaires, to J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP), the struggling department store chain. Ellington Management Group LLC, a $5.5 billion investment firm founded by Michael Vranos, took a new position in Sotheby’s, as did Eric Mindich‘s Eton Park Capital Management. Ellington owned 71,500 shares at the end of the third quarter while Eton Park opened an 1.94 million stake.
Carl Icahn Now Owns about $2.5 Billion Worth of Apple Shares (AllThingsD)
Carl Icahn, the billionaire activist investor who spent most of the year trying but ultimately failing to get control of Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL), says in a regulatory filing that he has boosted his holdings of Apple. In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Icahn’s company, Icahn Enterprises, disclosed an Apple stake worth nearly $1.9 billion as of Sept. 30. But in a letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook, released to shareholders overnight, Icahn disclosed that his stake has grown to 4.7 million shares, which, as of yesterday’s closing price, would be worth $2.5 billion.
Starboard Value Fires at Compuware, Takes a Stake in Polycom (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
Has Starboard Value’s Jeffrey Smith telegraphed his next activist target? It sure seems logical. The New York hedge fund firm, which is arguably the busiest activist these days, disclosed that it took an initial 2.85 million-share stake in Polycom Inc (NASDAQ:PLCM), its largest new position in the third quarter. It accounts for 2.54 percent of the firm’s concentrated portfolio of roughly two dozen individual companies, according to a regulatory filing detailing Starboard’s holdings as of September 30.
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