Hedge Fund News: Bill Ackman, Michael Hintze, Carl Icahn

Bill Ackman Made Back $113 Million Today on Valeant Jump (CNBC)
After a year of misery, Bill Ackman finally is having a pretty good month. The head of the Pershing Square Capital Management hedge fund got some more good news Tuesday: Valeant shares surged on news that the company had received unsolicited offers for its core assets. In addition, the pharmaceutical firm earlier in the day reaffirmed its optimistic full-year guidance despite missing earnings expectations. Traders scooped up Valeant shares following the developments, boosting them more than 23 percent in afternoon trading. In rough numbers, that nets Ackman a profit of $113.4 million, based on the 22.6 million shares Pershing owns. Pershing is the company’s largest shareholder, with 6.33 percent of shares outstanding, according to S&P Capital IQ.

CQS Founder Hintze Says Credit Market ‘Challenging’ – Note (Reuters)
Michael Hintze, founder of $12 billion hedge fund firm CQS, has told investors the macroeconomic backdrop for credit markets is “more concerning” than he’s seen for some time, despite his funds posting a strong showing in the first half of 2016, according to a note seen by Reuters. The former banker who founded CQS in 1999, said in his mid-year review that while he still remained “constructive” on credit markets, he was taking a cautious approach to the rest of the year given the potential geopolitical “pot holes” that might lie ahead. His flagship $3 billion Directional Opportunities Fund was up 13.2 percent in the year to end-July after falling 8 percent during 2015. Meanwhile the firm’s Diversifed Fund was up 5.2 percent, after a 2.6 percent slide last year.

Icahn ‘Hopeful’ Trump Wins Presidency on Economic Stance (Bloomberg)
Investor Carl Icahn said he is “very hopeful” that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will win in November, praising the nominee’s economic policy speech on Monday. “If he sticks with that economic theme, he should definitely win hands down because I don’t know why you wouldn’t vote for him,” Icahn said Tuesday in a live phone-in interview with CNBC. Icahn, who endorsed Trump in September, reiterated his support for the candidate, while acknowledging his fellow billionaire has “made mistakes” — particularly last week. He said he talks to Trump and expresses his views, but didn’t join the official advisory group. Icahn said he wants to keep his options open to potentially fund a political action committee addressing his business and economic concerns.