Siris Capital Wraps Up Latest Fund at Nearly $650M (DowJones)
Siris Capital Group recently closed its first institutional fundraising effort since spinning out from hedge fund manager SAC Capital Advisors , said people with knowledge of the effort. The New York firm wrapped up Siris Partners II LP at nearly $650 million, surpassing a target of $400 million, said the people. The fund ended up closing near its revised hard cap of $650 million, said one of the people. Prior to raising the hard cap, Siris Capital ‘s ceiling was set at $600 million, but talks began earlier in the fall to raise that hurdle….
New York hedge fund operator spent $439,000 on advertising against Rep. Peter DeFazio (OregonLive)
Here’s one more wrap-up item from the 2012 election: Final disclosure reports showed that New York hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer wound up spending $439,354 on an independent advertising campaign against Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore. That’s less than the nearly $650,000 Mercer gave to a similar effort in 2010, when DeFazio was also running against Republican Art Robinson. The first time around, Robinson — and the ads financed by Mercer — caught DeFazio somewhat by surprise, although DeFazio wound up winning by 10 percentage points.
Einhorn takes on another hedge fund manager (Marketwatch)
Billionaire David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital is a closely followed hedge fund manager, possibly most closely when he gives public presentations at investor conferences. He famously recommended shorting Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (NASDAQ:GMCR) in October 2011, before the stock began plummeting; He had also been a public critic and short-seller of Lehman Brothers in late 2007 and 2008. However, at least so far one, of his more recent short calls has been completely wrong: Einhorn led his presentation at the mid-May Ira Sohn Conference with a short thesis on Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE:MLM) +0.94% , and the stock is up 22% since then, easily beating the market. The stock had been declining quite a bit in early May, so it might not be entirely fair to measure its performance from the conference date, but even if we use the beginning of May as our baseline Martin Marietta is up 11% against a flat S&P 500.
Rajat Gupta Should Pay Maximum Civil Penalty, SEC Says (Bloomberg)
Rajat Gupta, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) director found guilty at an insider-trading trial, should be required to pay the maximum civil penalty, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said in a court filing. Gupta was motivated by personal gain and can afford the $15 million fine the SEC is seeking because he still has tens of millions of dollars for an “enviable retirement,” Kevin McGrath, an SEC attorney, said in today’s filing in federal court in Manhattan. The former Goldman executive is worth about $85 million, evidence at his trial showed, McGrath said.
When Does Groupon — Still at More Than 80 Percent Off — Become a Deal for Someone? (AllThingsD)
Is it time for Groupon to be looking for a buyer? Wall Street is certainly enthusiastic for such an outcome — even grabbing onto a specious rumor that perhaps Google was sniffing around the troubled Chicago-based social discount deals company, which is currently valued at just over $3 billion. On Friday, Groupon’s stock jumped 23 percent on takeover speculation after Tom Forte of Telsey Advisory Group was quoted as saying: “Where the stock is currently trading, it’s a takeout candidate.” …At least one big investor is betting something will happen: Tiger Global Management, which recently bought up close to 10 percent of Groupon. The well-regarded hedge fund and private equity firm may be betting it can’t get worse, and perhaps would even push for a sale.
