Editor’s Note: Hampden Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBNK), Visa Inc (NYSE:V), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), General Motors Company (NYSE:GM)
Paulson Merger Fund Said to Fall 0.9% as Advantage, Credit Gain (Businessweek)
Billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson posted a 0.9 percent decline in his Paulson Partners Enhanced fund last month as stock markets fell, according to a person briefed on the matter. The loss reduces gains this year in the fund to 21 percent, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Paulson Partners Enhanced is the leveraged version of the firm’s merger-arbitrage strategy, Paulson’s largest fund group by assets. Paulson & Co., based in New York with $18 billion in assets, posted gains last month in its Advantage and credit funds and a loss in its Recovery fund.
Hedge fund chief says Japan needs another ‘big round’ of stimulus (Reuters)
Hedge fund titan Ray Dalio said on Friday the Japanese economy will need another big round of stimulus to boost sluggish growth, and some emerging markets are on the path to crisis. Dalio, chairman and chief investment officer of $150 billion firm Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s largest hedge funds, was speaking at the Japan Society in midtown Manhattan. In April the Bank of Japan pledged to inject about $1.4 trillion into its flagging economy in an effort to end two decades of stagnation. The monetary easing, coupled with reflationary, pro-growth policies championed by Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, sent stocks rallying and the yen tumbling. Japan emerged from recession in 2012.
We Know David Einhorn & George Soros Love Apple Inc. (AAPL)’s Value. What Else? (Insider Monkey)
In August, billionaire David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital and billionaire George Soros’s Soros Fund Management filed their 13Fs for the second quarter of 2013 with the SEC, disclosing many of their long equity positions as of the end of June. Greenlight’s largest 13F position as of the end of Q2 was its 2.4 million shares of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), and Soros’s fund had a position as well. While the fund did not change its position in the stock, other hedge funds were selling the consumer technology company causing Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) to fall to third on our list of the most popular stocks among hedge funds. Another common pick between the two funds was General Motors Company (NYSE:GM), which was also one of Einhorn’s favorite stocks per the filing.
August Blows Have Hedge Funds Reeling (FINalternatives)
August was a minor bloodbath for the hedge fund industry, with the average fund falling 0.86%, according to Hedge Fund Research, and only one substrategy managing a positive return for the month. The HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index is up 3.03% on the year after August’s decline. Fifteen of the suite’s 16 strategy and substrategy indices also suffered losses on the month, with only distressed restructuring in the black—and barely so, at just 0.09% (4.14% year-to-date).
Visa Inc (V): 13 Hedge-Fund Billionaires Bought This Global Leader (iStockAnalyst)
Recent 13-F filings, quarterly reports hedge-fund are required to file on their holdings, reveal that a total of 13 hedge funds owned Visa Inc (NYSE:V) at the end of the second quarter. That makes the company the second-most popular stock amongst hedge funds, with only General Motors Co (GM) more widely held, owned by 17 hedge funds at the end of the second quarter. That institutional interest has fueled big gains for Visa, with shares up 36% in the last year and 105% in the last two.
Lehman Pushes For Hedge Fund’s Docs On $600M Claim (Law360)
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. on Thursday urged a New York bankruptcy judge to force a hedge fund that it says bought a $300 million claim from Giants Stadium LLC to cough up documents showing how the claim was later raised to $600 million. Baupost Group LLC asked the court to quash the subpoena Lehman issued for the documents, but Lehman contends that the fund has provided no adequate reason for refusing to comply.
Texas hedge fund turning up the heat on Springfield bank’s board in advance of annual meeting (Boston Business Journal)
Candidates nominated by a Texas hedge fund for positions on Springfield-based Hampden Bancorp, Inc. (NASDAQ:HBNK)’s board deserve the seats more than some incumbents, a hedge fund manager is claiming, and they’ve also got the bank’s top executives’ pay in their crosshairs. In a letter to stockholders, Johnny Guerry, managing partner of hedge fund Clover Partners, asks stockholders to consider voting for him and Garold Base, former CEO of Dallas-based Viewpoint Bank, at the bank company’s upcoming annual meeting.
Perella Weinberg shuts health care funds as others cash in (CNBC.com)
Perella Weinberg Partners has shut a health care investment strategy following years of tepid returns—even as other hedge funds in the sector have recently notched big gains. The Perella Weinberg Partners Tōkum Fund, a hedge fund that invested in the stocks of medical and pharmaceutical companies, is being liquidated, according to two people familiar with the situation. The $10.1 billion New York-based hedge and private equity fund manager is also killing the related European public vehicle it had set up in partnership with Morgan Stanley, the MS Perella Weinberg Partners Tōkum Long/Short Healthcare UCITS Fund.
Centerbridge Exec. Loses Bidding War For Strip Of Hamptons Land (FINalternatives)
Centerbridge Partners’ Kyle Cruz just wanted a path to the sea for his Hamptons getaway. His neighbor, fellow financier Marc Helie, wanted to deny him it more. Helie in May bid $120,000 for a one-foot-wide strip of land in Napeague, N.Y., besting Cruz’s final offer of $115,000. The final offer—expected to be accepted by the Suffolk County Legislature next week—is especially impressive given that the county hoped to unload the 1,885-foot-long parcel for just $10, and opened the bidding at $1,500 when Cruz and Helie both expressed interest.
