Editor’s Note: J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP), Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX), Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF)
EXCLUSIVE-UPDATE 1-Ackman’s fund flat after August losses – sources (Reuters)
William Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management is largely flat for the year after a bruising August in which the hedge fund lost 3.6 percent, said two investor sources who are not permitted to discuss the private fund’s numbers publicly. The sharp decline was largely driven by big bets on J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) and Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) and have left Pershing Square, with $10.73 billion in assets, badly trailing the broader hedge fund industry and the overall stock markets. Pershing Square’s poor performance stands in sharp contrast with the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, which was up 14.5 percent for the year as of Aug. 31.
U.S. judge puts SAC Capital civil lawsuit on hold (The Globe and Mail)
A U.S. judge put on hold a civil forfeiture lawsuit against Steven A. Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors hedge fund on Wednesday while a criminal insider-trading case moves forward. On the same day, the firm announced a second round of retention bonuses in a bid to keep portfolio managers and analysts as SAC defends itself against the criminal charges. U.S. District Judge Richard Sullivan in New York agreed during a hearing to a request by prosecutors to temporarily stay the proceedings on the grounds that allowing depositions and document discovery to proceed would adversely hurt the criminal case.
U.S. hedge fund Two Fish Management calls for break up of Barrick Gold (Rocky View Weekly)
A U.S. hedge fund is making a renewed call for changes at Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX) calling for the break up of the company and the addition of a mining engineer and geologist to its board. Mike Morris, principal and founder of Two Fish Management, said Wednesday that there is no compelling reason for Barrick Gold Corporation (USA) (NYSE:ABX) to own a worldwide conglomerate of gold mines. “The market is essentially assigning a massive conglomerate discount to the company,” he said Wednesday.
Lyxor names new global leader for hedge fund research (Pensions & Investments)
Frank Frecentese was named global head of hedge fund research by Lyxor Asset Management, confirmed Mehdi Aliouat, a company spokesman. Mr. Frecentese is based in Lyxor’s New York office and reports to Lionel Erdely and Nicolas Gaussel, co-chief investment officers. Mr. Frecentese joined Lyxor in May as managing director and deputy global head of hedge fund research, Mr. Aliouat confirmed. He replaced Dennis Heskel as the firm’s leader of global hedge fund research, overseeing teams in New York and throughout Asia and Europe, Mr. Aliouat said. Mr. Heskel will retire in October.
J.C. Penney Replaces Bill Ackman With a Hedge Fund Dream Team (Yahoo! Finance)
Name brand hedge fund investors bought discounted shares of J.C. Penney Company, Inc. (NYSE:JCP) Bill Ackman dumped on the market last week. Tuesday afternoon it was revealed that “suggestivist” investor Larry Robbins of Glenview Capital has amassed a 9.1% stake in J.C. Penney, up from less than 4% at the end of June. Also climbing on the J.C. Penney’s train was Kyle Bass who bought a 5.2% stake for his Hayman Capital fund. The announcements come on the heels of Richard Perry and his Perry Corp added 3 million shares to its position and now controls 8.9% of the company. Perry, who also owns Barney’s New York, has pushed for Penney’s to replace CEO Mike Ullman with current Foot Locker (FL) CEO Ken Hicks.
Is this hedge fund using its ‘common sense?’ (CNBC.com)
Hedge fund defends Billabong play (Business Spectator)
United States hedge fund Coastal Capital International has defended its investment in embattled surfwear retailer Billabong International Ltd, insisting it is interested in boosting returns for all shareholders, according to The Australian Financial Review. The hedge fund’s managing partner, Todd Plutsky, defended against suggestions it is a vulture fund and “serial pest”. “In all of our investments in Australia we have done nothing but seek improved value for all shareholders,” Mr Plutsky told the AFR.
Synergy Health fills gap left by Vinik hedge fund (Tampa Bay Business Journal)
The Synergy Health plc relocation to the SunTrust Financial Centre will not help downtown Tampa’s office space absorption. The surgical sterilization provider is moving into the 20,000-square-foot space recently vacated by Vinik Asset Management. Tampa Bay Lightning Owner Jeff Vinik was hailed last summer when he moved his Boston-based hedge fund to the 31st floor of the downtown tower. But Vinik closed the fund in May due to poor performance.
IndexIQ Announces August 2013 Performance of Its IQ Hedge Family of Investable Benchmark Hedge Fund (DailyFinance)
IndexIQ, a leading developer of index-based alternative investment solutions, today announced the performance of its proprietary family of hedge fund replication and alternative beta indexes. Designed as investable benchmarks that replicate the performance characteristics of sophisticated hedge fund strategies, the IQ Hedge™ benchmark indexes were originally introduced on March 30, 2007, and have been calculating live since that date. IQ Hedge is the first family of investable benchmark indexes covering hedge fund replication/alternative beta strategies.
Forness joins hedge fund platform Multi Strat Re (The Insurance Insider)
Former Imagine Group executive Bob Forness has been appointed CEO and chairman of Bermuda-based Multi-Strat Re, a platform set up to help hedge funds tap into the reinsurance space. Forness said that Multi-Strat Re had a strong pipeline of sponsors and expected its aggregate capital to reach a figure comparable to that of some publicly traded reinsurers by 2015. Multi-Strat Re is not rated and therefore collateralises its liabilities through letters of credit.
