KPMG to Acquire New Jersey Accounting Firm Rothstein Kass (Wall Street Journal)
The New York accounting firm on Thursday agreed to buy Rothstein Kass, a New Jersey firm that caters to hedge funds and other alternative investment firms. Buying Rothstein Kass would make KPMG the largest auditor of hedge funds based on client numbers, up from fifth currently, according to data compiled by research firm AuditAnalytics.com. Ernst & Young LLP currently holds the top spot. KPMG also would gain some of the biggest names in the hedge-fund world as clients, including Paulson & Co., Brigade Capital Management LLC and Pennant Capital Management LLC.
Wynnefield’s Obus Innocent or Lamest Insider, Lawyer Says (Bloomberg)
Wynnefield Capital Inc.’s Nelson Obus would have to be “the lamest insider trader in history” for a jury to believe he relied on an illegal merger tip to make $1.3 million, his lawyer told the panel. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claimed, in a trial that began last week in Manhattan federal court, that Obus traded on inside information that SunSource Inc. was being sold and then confessed to getting the tip in two telephone calls. In one May 2001 call, Obus told SunSource’s chief executive officer that “a little birdie” at General Electric Capital Corp. told him about the company’s planned sale to a “financial buyer,” the SEC said. “Why would you do that if you were insider trading?” Joel Cohen, a lawyer for Obus, asked jurors today in his closing argument in the trial. “You wouldn’t.”
Keypoint Capital Management Bets Big on Financial Stocks (Insider Monkey)
Rod Hinze is the founder and manager of Keypoint Capital Management. Prior to founding Keypoint Capital, Mr. Hinze worked as an investment banker at Bear Sterns, and was an employee of Goldman Sachs’ real estate private equity group. In addition, Mr. Hinze served as the manager of the real estate portfolio of another Dallas-based hedge fund, Western Reserve Capital Management. In the small cap commercial banks holding company Independent Bank Group Inc (NASDAQ:IBTX), Keypoint revealed a $12.84 million stake, which contains 218,500 shares, down by 20% on the quarter. Even though, the fund has trimmed its exposure to the company, its holding still amasses over 10% of the total 13F portfolio value.
Top 500 hedge funds control 90 pct of industry assets: Preqin (Reuters)
The 505 largest hedge fund managers in the world, each with more than $1 billion under management, control 90 percent of the industry’s assets, research by Preqin showed on Thursday. They collectively manage $2.39 trillion of the industry’s $2.66 trillion in assets but account for just 11 percent of active firms, the industry tracker said in a statement. “The increase in hedge fund assets is being driven by allocations from the largest investors in hedge funds, those which currently allocate more than $1 billion to the asset class,” said Amy Bensted, head of hedge funds products.
At least 3 groups make offers in initial round of bidding on Clippers (Orlando Sentinel)
An initial round of bidding for the Los Angeles Clippers closed Wednesday with at least three potential buyers making offers and predicting that the winner will pay well over $1 billion, according to three people involved in the sale. Team co-owner Shelly Sterling did not release details of the bids for the team her husband, Donald, bought more than three decades ago for $12.5 million. A group that includes Los Angeles-based investors Tony Ressler and Bruce Karsh, along with former NBA star Grant Hill, offered $1.2 billion for the Clippers, a representative close to the partners said Wednesday. That bid is more than double the highest price ever paid for an NBA team. The Milwaukee Bucks were sold this month for a record $550 million.
