Hedge Fund News: Bill Ackman, Herbalife Ltd. (HLF), Air Products & Chemicals, Inc. (APD)

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Ideas for hedge funds mascots (FierceFinance)
Now that the SEC has authorized mass market advertising by sellers of private securities, per the JOBS Act, are we in for an onslaught of hedge funds advertisements? The conventional wisdom holds that the industry will take a go-slow approach to such broad advertising. Just because it can do something, doesn’t mean it should. One might argue that it makes more sense to advertise broadly only when they have a product aimed at the masses. Hedge funds can still only sell to accredited investors, though we might see more launch “hedge fund mutual fund”-like products.

Greenlight’s Einhorn cuts gold bullion to invest in miners (Reuters)
David Einhorn, head of hedge fund Greenlight Capital, said on Tuesday that he remained bullish on gold and that earnings growth would accelerate for General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) later this year. In a conference call for his Cayman Islands-based reinsurer Greenlight Capital Re Ltd, Einhorn said his optimism about gold “has not changed” and that his investment portfolio now had an equal exposure to gold miners and gold bullion. He said the position was not hedged. “During the gold selloff in the quarter, we sold a small amount of gold to take advantage of opportunities in gold-mining stocks that were in freefall,” said Einhorn, the chairman of the reinsurer.

Changing fortunes of Europe’s biggest hedge fund managers (eFinancialNews)
This year, managers needed $5.1 billion in assets to qualify for the Financial News Top 20, compared with $4.7 billion last year and $5 billion in each of the two previous years. The top 20 managers saw their combined assets rise by 4.5% to $277.1 billion in the 12 months to June 30. Assets under management of the top 10 grew 4.7% over the same period to $209.8 billion. In last year’s survey, the top 20 grew at a rate of 2.2%, but the assets of the top 10 dipped 0.8%. …Winton Capital Management – which had shown the biggest organic growth in the top 20 in the past two surveys – was the biggest loser in the top 20 in absolute dollar terms due to a drop in total assets under management.

Here’s Why Investors Should Buy Dell Shares Now Even As The Stock Looks Unhinged (Forbes)
Friday, August 2nd, is D (decision) Day for Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL). That’s when the company’s Special Committee is scheduled to reconvene and finally end the long agony of defeat — or sweetness of victory — for Michael Dell. Or, it could be the glory of an arduous win for his nemesis, activist investor Carl Icahn. So the crucial question – especially for traders and people who don’t own any Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) share – is the stock a buy or a sell, at this time? As most everyone now know, Michael Dell, with the help of private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners, seeks to acquire all of Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) and turn it into a private company to do as he pleases with the pioneer in PCs.

What Happens If the BRICs Sink Like One? (Bloomberg)
Nouriel Roubini points out that after a decade of torrid growth, the BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India, China) are slowing down. “Brazil’s gross domestic product grew by only 1 percent last year, and may not grow by more than 2 percent this year, with its potential barely above 3 percent. Russia’s economy may grow by barely 2 percent this year, with potential growth also at around 3 percent, despite oil prices being around $100 a barrel. India had a couple of years of strong growth recently (11.2 percent in 2010 and 7.7 percent in 2011) but slowed to 4 percent in 2012…

Convexity Closes to New Money Amid Disappointing Performance (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
Convexity Capital Management, the secretive Boston-based hedge fund firm co-founded by Jack Meyer, expressed frustration to clients over what it describes as subpar performance and said it is closing to new investments until its performance improves. The firm’s main fund lagged its benchmarks by 132 basis points, or 1.32 percentage points, in the second quarter as well as for the first half. The fund also is behind its self-imposed benchmarks by 167 basis points for the 12 months ended June 30, according to Convexity’s second-quarter letter to clients.




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