Hedge Fund News: Carl Icahn, John Burbank, AT&T Inc. (T)

…the end of the month after redemptions “driven by sector rotation” and “weakness in the fund-of-fund industry,” E.G. Fisher and Rob Wahl, co-founders of the Greenwich, Connecticut- based firm, wrote in the letter that was sent today to clients. Assets in the firm’s core strategy fell from a peak of $1 billion in early 2012 to $370 million as of April 1, they said.

AT&T Inc. (T), Merck & Co., Inc. (MRK) & Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ): Hedge Fund Manager Cliff Asness’s +3.5% Yielders(Insider Monkey)
Read on for our quick take on five of Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management’s picks as of the end of December which pay yields of 3.5% or higher going by current prices and recent dividend levels. One of AQR’s five largest positions by market value was its 5.3 million shares of AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T). The telecommunications company pays a high dividend yield of 4.7%, and also stands out for a low beta of 0.4. Asness and his team kept their holdings of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) roughly constant, with 3.1 million shares in their portfolio as of the end of March.

Chinese firm states it will evaluate offer from Raleigh hedge fund manager (Triangle Business Journal)
Beijing-based UTStarcom Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:UTSI) says it has set up a special committee of its board of directors and hired a New York law firm to help it evaluate an investor offer led by Raleigh-based Shah Capital that would take the tech supplier private. The law firm is New York-based Kirkland & Ellis, a practice specializing in global transactions. Shah Capital, founded by investment advisor Himanshu H. Shah in 2005, and other investors have offered $3.20 a share to acquire all the outdstanding UTStarcom shares not already in their hands.

Hedge fund post fifth positive consecutive month, Eurekahedge (Investment Europe)
Hedge funds were up for the fifth consecutive month in March, a month that saw mixed returns in underlying market indices, according to Eurekahedge. The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index was up 0.69% during the month while the MSCI World Index finished with gains of 1.76%. March witnessed diverging trends among global markets with US and European indices finishing with contrasting results. North America witnessed a continuation of the rally in equity markets amid a slew of positive economic data, while Japanese stocks also extended their winning run with further devaluation of the yen.