SEC Release: Level Global Agrees to Pay More Than $21.5 Million to Settle SEC Insider Trading Charges (TheRaceToTheBottom)
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) issued a press release announcing that Connecticut based hedge fund advisory firm, Level Global Investors LP (“Level”), agreed to pay over $21.5 million to settle insider trading allegations against its co-founder Anthony Chiasson, former Level analyst Spyridon “Sam” Adondakis, five investment professionals, and the hedge fund advisory firm Diamondback Capital Management. SEC Press Release No. 2013-76, 2013 WL 1811840 (April 29, 2013).
Hedge fund chief set on selling NY-based satellite company (NYPost)
Hedge fund manager Mark Rachesky is ready to launch a sale of Loral Space & Communications — and this time investors are hoping for liftoff. Rachesky, who is Loral’s chairman and biggest shareholder with a 38 percent stake, is putting the New York satellite company on the block, sources told The Post. The 55-year-old investor has recently put out feelers to potential suitors, a source close to the situation said. While Rachesky, a medical doctor and a former protégé of Carl Icahn, is set on selling Loral, a holding company whose biggest asset is a 62.8 percent stake in Telesat, a Canadian satellite company, he has not yet hired a sell-side banker, a source said.
Nordic investors prefer onshore hedge fund products (Opalesque)
Delegates at The Opalesque 2013 Nordic Roundtable, sponsored by Estlander & Partners, Eurex and Taussig Capital discussed the Nordic preference for onshore as opposed to offshore financial products. Martin Estlander from Estlander & Partners said: “Particularly in the Nordics we have had legislation that provides for onshore vehicles for alternative investment managers already for a number of years. For example, there is a Swedish Special Mutual Fund and a Finnish Special Mutual Fund which have less constraints on the investment strategies than what is the case for a traditional mutual funds.”
MassPRIM taking closer look at cost structure (PIOnline)
The Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board launched the first phase of a cost-saving and return-enhancing program that follows in the footsteps of public funds from other states that, in turn, are following in the footsteps of several Canadian plans. Phase 1 initiatives of Project SAVE include renegotiating some public equity and hedge fund manager contracts to reduce fees for the $53.9 billion Boston-based fund; investing in hedge funds rather than hedge funds of funds and exploring more passive hedge fund strategies; looking at more private equity co-investing; establishing a cash overlay; and restructuring how the fund handles claims-filing procedures and recovery from class-action litigation proceeds.
AlphaMetrix owes $600,000 in fee rebates (PIOnline)
Executives at managed futures managers, commodity trading advisers and hedge funds are furious and stymied over non-payment of fee rebates owed to them by AlphaMetrix Group LLC. “We were continuously chasing them for their payment,” said Bruce Mumford, director of marketing/investor relations, 2100 Xenon Group LLC, Chicago, a fund manager that traded in futures for clients that placed investments through AlphaMetrix. Mr. Mumford said AlphaMetrix is still four to five months behind on paying his fee rebates. The firm has just five days to pay $600,000 of management and incentive fees owed to some of the fund managers on its managed account platform.
Hedge fund to keep Nine stake (BusinessSpectator)
One of Nine Entertainment Co’s two US hedge fund owners has agreed to retain its entire stake in the company, as the first details of pricing in its upcoming float have emerged. Media understands that the company will be offered to investors for between $2.05 and $2.30 a share. Major shareholder and hedge fund Apollo Global Management will surprise investment bankers and other stakeholders when the prospectus is released next week by holding on to its entire stake until at least the second half of next year. The float is set to take place on or soon after December 9 and will value Nine in the range of $2.4 billion to $2.9bn.
Inside Icahn Enterprises (CNBC)
Royal Mail hedge fund tycoon Chris Hohn posts his divorce papers (Telegraph)
Now that Chris Hohn’s hedge fund has become the biggest private shareholder in Royal Mail, with £200million worth of shares, his estranged wife will, at least, know who to speak to if her cheque is lost in the post. Mandrake hears that the financier and his wife, Jamie Cooper-Hohn, have begun divorce proceedings. This column disclosed in June that the philanthropists’ marriage had hit the rocks. “It is very sad, but the marriage is over,” says a friend of the couple.
Sotheby’s and the $14bn hedge fund hawk struggle for control of art market (TheGuardian)
The seasonal display of the world’s wealthiest people bidding for art and driving up prices to record levels is being overshadowed by a backroom drama pitting the venerable British auctioneer Sothebys (NYSE:BID) against one of New York’s most aggressive investment managers. Dan Loeb, 51, art collector and chief executive of Third Point, a hedge fund sponsor with $14bn under management, is campaigning to unseat Sotheby’s long-serving chairman, president and chief executive, William Ruprecht. Loeb, who has a 9.3% stake in the 269-year-old British salesroom, claims it has failed to “grasp the central importance of contemporary and modern art to the company’s growth”.
Hedge fund heavyweight will chair Columbia U. fundraising dinner (NYPost)
Hedge fund heavyweight Paul Singer might seem an odd choice of a business titan to chair the annual Columbia University Knight-Bagehot gala fundraising dinner, which will be held Nov. 4 at the New York Marriott Marquis. Three years ago, Singer seemed more interested in thwarting the business press — which the fellowship is aimed at — than aiding it. Singer’s Elliott Management asked a Manhattan state judge in 2010 to force AR magazine — a publication covering hedge funds — to reveal the name of the person who leaked information about Elliott’s fund positions as laid out in a letter to investors.
For Westport hedge fund, Sandy wasn’t the “Big One” (CTPost)
For a couple of days last fall, after Superstorm Sandy had flooded much of the Connecticut coast, flattened dozens of homes and left several trees blocking the roads near John Seo’s home in Westport, the hedge fund manager was unable to go to work. That in itself wasn’t a problem. His office for Fermat Capital Management — located just off the Saugatuck River, which had flooded badly — had actually fared the storm quite well. Plus, he and his staff could work remotely from their respective homes. There was another reason why Seo, who’s about as prepared as anyone for natural disasters, had reason to worry.
Ex-UBS Bankers Breach, Hill Set Up Hedge Fund Gemsstock (Bloomberg)
Al Breach, former Russia strategist at UBS AG (ADR) (NYSE:UBS), is setting up a hedge-fund firm with ex-colleague Charles Hill and UFG Asset Management’s Florian Fenner. Breach is combining with Hill, former head of trading at UBS’s joint venture in Russia, and Fenner, managing partner at Russia’s UFG for the past 11 years, according to filings made this month at U.K.’s Companies House. Mayumi Yamaguchi, who previously worked at Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) in sales before being employed at several hedge-fund firms, is also listed as a director, the filings show. The firm, Gemsstock Ltd., was incorporated in September.
Plaudits To Carl Icahn For Reigniting Apple’s Weary Stock (Forbes)
Say what you wish about Carl Icahn, but the activist investor has re-energized Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL)’s stock that had been weary and droopy before he snapped up shares and urged management to start buying back a sizable portion of its own shares. By simply showing an interest in Apple, Icahn has seen its stock reverse gear. Before he came into the picture, Apple was trading below $400 a share. After buying shares in August, which Icahn has since boosted by 22% to 4.73 million shares, Apple took wing and closed on Oct. 25, 2013, at $525.96. Earlier that week, the stock had traded higher, at $531 a share.
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