Some Top Money Managers Push for Fed to Start Raising Interest Rates (NYTimes)
The Fed is out of step with Wall Street, say some of the country’s wealthiest investors. If there was one thing that hedge fund managers kept coming back to time and time again at the CNBC Delivering Alpha conference on Wednesday, it was that the Federal Reserve should start thinking about raising rates. That was the message from the financier Stanley F. Druckenmiller, who said the time had passed for the Fed to keep interest rates near record low levels to revive the economy…
EddieLampert.com Salesman Offering Ackman-Related Websites (Finalternatives)
Bill Ackman may have given Jeff Klaips a moment of his time—but he’s not giving him any money for Klaips’ two Ackman-related internet domain names. Klaips bought BillAckman.com and WilliamAckman.com in 2007. Two years later, he was offering them for $10,000 each. Now, he’ll take just $4,900 for both of them, according to Absolute Return—but Ackman isn’t biting. Klaips, who runs a suburban Chicago construction clean-up company, worked the trick earlier this year, selling EddieLampert.com to the hedge fund manager’s ESL Investments for $4,200. Klaips had bought the domain 10 years ago.
Hedge fund manager Cooperman says market gains will slow (Reuters)
Hedge fund manager Leon Cooperman, who has forecast that the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index will hit 2000 this year, cautioned on Wednesday that gains will be slower as the market is more fairly valued now. “The markets finally found a fair level,” Cooperman, who runs the $10.5 billion Omega Advisers, said at the CNBC Institutional Investor Delivering Alpha Conference. “I expect the rate of appreciation to slow.” he said. The S&P 500 traded at 1,977, up 0.2 percent on Wednesday.
John Paulson Sounds Confident That Valeant Will Win Its Takeover Bid Of Allergan (BusinessInsider)
Closely-followed hedge fund manager John Paulson sounded confident in a Valeant/Allergan deal at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha. Paulson, who has been running his fund for 20 years, said it’s a “very exciting time” to be involved in merger arbitrage right now. He added that his fund tries to identify who is going to be acquired. He recently disclosed a stake in Allergan, Inc. (NYSE:AGN), the maker of Botox. Pharma company Valeant is attempting to make a hostile bid for Allergan in stock and cash. Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX) has teamed up with hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who runs Pershing Square, to pursue the takeover.
Investors Pour Almost $100B Into Hedge Funds In H1 (Finalternatives)
Hedge funds took in more money in H1 2014—$99.7 billion—than in all of 2013, according to new data from eVestment. In fact, investors poured more money ($65.3 billion) into equity strategies in H1 2014 than they put into all hedge funds in 2013 ($61.7 billion). Equity strategies now manage an estimated $997 billion. Hedge fund assets under management reached $3.032 trillion in June, as investors added $6.1 billion for the month—below the previous four-month average of $22 billion.
Long-only hedge funds hold key to emerging markets (Risk)
Since the 2008 financial crisis, investors have flocked to emerging markets (EMs) for return generation as developed markets (DMs) have faced low interest rates and slowing growth. A common institutional investor approach to EMs is to combine a long-only allocation with a long/short, hedged allocation. Much has been written about hedged investing, but less about approaches to implementing the long-only EM allocation.
Highlights from Delivering Alpha (CNBC)
Stratton Street Co-Founder Main Retires (Finalternatives)
One of Stratton Street Capital’s four founders has retired from full-time work at the Asia-focused hedge fund. Andrew Main has stepped down from day-to-day responsibilities at the firm 11 years after its founding. He remains with Stratton Street as a consultant. Main’s co-founders, Mark Johns, Andy Seaman and Trever Sliwerski, remain as partners and portfolio managers at the Asian fixed-income specialist. The firm has US$1.6 billion in assets under management.
At hedge-fund conference, Christie says he’s in ‘no rush’ to decide on 2016 (NJBiz)
In an interview Wednesday before Wall Street leaders at the Delivering Alpha conference in New York City, Gov. Chris Christie said he’s in “no rush” to decide whether or not he’ll run for president in 2016. “I have a pretty good day job as governor of New Jersey,” Christie told CNBC’s John Harwood. The interview was televised live on the channel, which cosponsors the annual hedge-fund conference alongside Institutional Investor.
KKR Takes Minority Stake in Hedge Fund BlackGold Capital (HedgeCo)
Global investment firm KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE:KKR) is acquiring a 24.9% interest in credit-oriented hedge fund BlackGold Capital Management, the WSJ reports. Founded in 2006 by co-founders Erik Dybesland and Adam Flikerski, Blackgold manages $1.4 billion in assets and specializes in energy and hard asset investments. The investment in BlackGold is part of KKR’s efforts to develop the firm’s hedge fund platform, which is co-led by Girish Reddy and Todd Builione, and to expand the firm’s energy business, which is led by Marc Lipschultz.
Time Warner Shareholders Call Murdoch Bid Hard to Resist (BusinessWeek)
Two billionaire money managers who own shares in Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) said Rupert Murdoch’s bid for the media company will be hard to resist, particularly if he comes back with a higher offer. Ken Griffin, chief executive officer of hedge-fund firm Citadel LLC, said the deal makes sense for the company’s shareholders, and Mario Gabelli, CEO of Gamco Investors Inc (NYSE:GBL), called it “hard for a board to turn down.” “It’s going to get tough to say no,” Griffin, 45, said in a keynote speech at the fourth annual CNBC Institutional Investor Delivering Alpha conference in New York today.
Hostile hedge fund Starboard boosts stake in Darden to 7.1% (OrlandoSentinel)
Starboard Value, a hedge fund with a hostile plan to replace Darden Restaurants, Inc. (NYSE:DRI)’s board and management, has been buying more Darden stock. Starboard’s ownership surge – now 7.1 percent, up from 6.2 in May – comes as the hedge fund has been blasting the current company leadership for allegedly devaluing the company. In a July 15 letter, Starboard says it bought more stock because it is confident that its board replacements can turn the company around. Starboard pleads with the current board to step aside now, before an upcoming shareholder vote on the board.
How Tom Steyer sees the New Hampshire Senate race (ConcordMonitor)
Billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer sees a clear difference between Scott Brown and Jeanne Shaheen on the divisive issue of climate change. A difference so big, in fact, that he’s willing to spend a lot of money here to make sure Shaheen wins re-election to the U.S. Senate. “I don’t think we’d be in New Hampshire if Scott Brown hadn’t run,” Steyer said this morning in an interview with the Monitor. Steyer is the founder of NextGen Climate, a super PAC that’s playing in seven races this fall where Steyer sees a major gap between the candidates on climate change.
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