Hedge Fund News: David Einhorn, Edward Lampert & Carl Icahn

Trish Regan, Einhorn apologist (Reuters)
Ever since the story first broke, more than five weeks ago, that David Einhorn was suing Seeking Alpha, the Israeli financial website has been very, very quiet on the topic. Sometimes they have simply failed to respond at all to requests for comment (including mine); other times, as with Andrew Ross Sorkin, a spokesman will formally decline to comment. So it was a big deal when Seeking Alpha president David Siegel appeared on Bloomberg TV today, and answered Trish Regan’s questions about the Einhorn lawsuit. Or, at least, it would have been a big deal, if Regan had actually bothered to ask him any of the obvious questions…

GREENLIGHT CAPITAL David Einhorn

Trafigura Founder Dauphin Exits as CEO for Medical Treatment (BusinessWeek)
Trafigura Beheer BV, the world’s second-biggest metals trader, said 63-year-old Claude Dauphin stepped aside as chief executive officer for medical treatment and will be replaced by the head of its mining unit. The exit of the Marc Rich protege and Trafigura co-founder forced the company to accelerate succession plans, naming Jeremy Weir as CEO immediately, Victoria Dix, a spokeswoman, said today by phone. She declined to identify Dauphin’s medical condition. Weir, an Australian who joined the Amsterdam-based company in 2001 and also led its hedge fund Galena Asset Management, was due to take over at the end of September, Dix said…

Ex-Deutsche Bank Trader’s Hedge Fund Has No Trouble Hitting Fundraising Target (Finalternatives)
Investors have flocked to a new hedge fund planned by a former Deutsche Bank AG (USA) (NYSE:DB) trader. Hollis Park Partners has won $225 million in commitments—$25 million more than its initial target, HFMWeek reports. The New York-based firm has decided to close to new investment as a result, albeit temporarily. Hollis Park was founded by former Deutsche Bank mortgage trader Troy Dixon and is set to launch its first fund in July. The fund will focus on structured mortgage finance.

Hedge Fund Buying Claims From 1983 Terrorist Attack (Finalternatives)
Iran is still a pariah in the international community, but one hedge fund thinks it will eventually pay $1.8 billion as ordered by a U.S. court. RD Legal Capital hopes to raise up to $100 million to buy the rights to payments from families of the 241 U.S. Marines killed in a terrorist attack in Lebanon in 1983. A federal court in 2007 found Iran liable for the truck-bomb attack, which led to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from war-torn Lebanon. Iran, of course, is not on the best of terms with the U.S., and the two countries do not have diplomatic relations. Still, Iran’s central bank is appealing the $1.8 billion verdict against it.

10 things we discovered from the UK watchdog’s hedge fund probe (CityAM)
Scrutiny of the notoriously secretive world of hedge funds is growing. Today the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK City regulator, published the findings of a study into 49 firms operating 106 hedge funds in the London. Here’s what we found out: 1. 20 per cent of the global hedge fund industry’s $2.6 trillion of assets are based in the UK and 450 firms are registered with the FCA. 2. The hedge fund industry is not as big as the real estate and private equity sector – it ranks behind both in terms of asset under management as the third biggest type of alternative investment asset class…

Carl Icahn To Get Three More Board Seats at Herbalife Ltd. (HLF) (InsiderMonkey)
Carl Icahn and Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF) have strengthened their ties, with the company having agreed to offer Icahn more board seats. According to an amended filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Herbalife will put up for election three representatives of Icahn: Hunter Gary, Jesse Lynn, and James Nelson. Mr Gary and Mr Lynn are candidates for Class I directors, while Mr. Nelson is to be elected as Class II director. The election will take place at the company’s 2014 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting, scheduled for April 29. This new agreement will give Carl Icahn 5 board seats out of the total number of 13 seats. Following the announcement, the shares of Herbalife have jumped as much as 9% and are currently trading at $53.50 apiece.

Darden likely sold to private equity: Analyst (CNBC)

Hillary Clinton: Pro-green, pro-elite and anti-growth (WashingtonPost)
Hillary Clinton has never been the darling of the left when it comes to foreign policy. Her support for the Iraq war (before she was against it) likely cost her the presidential nomination in 2008. She’s not been on the cutting edge of social issues either, trailing instead of leading on gay marriage. Even on health care she wasn’t, say, with former Vermont governor Howard Dean; instead she was an advocate of the individual mandate and a plan that became the essence of Obamacare. And yet she is heading into a Democratic presidential primary in 2016 as the “inevitable,” albeit stodgy, nominee. Like the president, she is now the defender of the status quo — no on school choice, no on entitlement reform, no on Obamacare modification. It is inevitable for the candidate whose party holds the White House to wind up either the beneficiary (George H.W. Bush) or the victim (Sen. John McCain) of the incumbent’s current performance. She is not, needless to say, a fresh face nor a purveyor of fresh ideas.

Cash burn continues at Sears Holdings (BNN)
Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:SHLD) has relied on controlling shareholder Edward Lampert for years to help fund its operations. Now the billionaire is cutting out a form of lending he’s provided since 2010 to the owner of its namesake retail chain and Kmart. Sears’s outstanding commercial paper — short-term debt used to fund day-to-day operations — fell on Feb. 1 to $9 million US, according to a March 18 regulatory filing, none of it held by Lampert’s hedge fund ESL Partners LP. A year earlier, the company that has reported operating losses for the past 12 quarters, had $345 million of the IOUs outstanding, $285 million of it to ESL.

New Orleans ordered to pay into firefighters’ pension fund (BenefitsPro)
The Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that the city of New Orleans must pay $17.5 million for its 2012 share of the city fire department’s pension fund. The high court’s 4-2 ruling Friday upheld decisions last year by Civil District Judge Robin Giarrusso and a state appeal court demanding the city pay its 2012 share to the New Orleans Fire Fighters Pension & Relief Fund. The decision leaves Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s administration with little choice but to pay the $17.5 million, which the mayor and the City Council did not account for in the 2014 city budget.

Jim Rogers Wants To Put All His Money Into This Country. Is It The Next China? (Forbes)
Forget diversification. Jim Rogers has identified the world’s next great investment opportunity, and in a recent interview the famed guru said he is willing to put all his considerable fortune there. So where is the planet’s best place to commit cash? According to Rogers, it’s the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Yes, that’s the formal name of what the world knows more simply as North Korea. Rogers has also been talking about farming as a terrific investment in recent days. As he said at the end of last month to Simon Jack on BBC Radio 4’s “Today” show, “If you want to make a lot of money in the future—which many people do—you should learn to drive a tractor.”

Koch Brothers and George Soros Bankroll 2014 Midterms (GuardianLV)
The Koch brothers and George Soros continue to bankroll the upcoming 2014 midterm elections. Much has been made in recent years about the role of outside contributions, political action committees (PAC), and the individuals that finance them. The 2014 midterm elections look to continue this trend as powerful backers are already lining up on both sides of the political aisle to pour money into the election. The sources of this financing are many and diverse, but much of the attention and criticism this election cycle is falling on the Koch brothers and George Soros. Charles and David Koch are outspoken conservative businessmen and financiers. They are the founders and primary contributors to a conservative PAC called Americans for Prosperity (AFP).

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