Hedge Fund News: Jim Chanos, Paul Singer & Esl Investments

Page 1 of 2

Hedge fund manager Chanos says betting against Petrobras at conference (Reuters)
Hedge fund manager Jim Chanos on Monday said he is betting against Brazil’s national oil company Petroleo Brasileiro Petrobras SA (ADR) (NYSE:PBR), saying it “exists to serve the state.” Chanos, who first cemented his reputation as a short seller with bets against Enron, said he is shorting the company’s debt and equity. Speaking at the Robin Hood Investors Conference, Chanos, head of Kynikos Associates, said the West is finished paying the shortfall tab for a corrupt government entity, according to two sources who were attending the event in New York City.

Jim Chanos puppeteer

Scopia Capital Strikes Deal With Guar Farmers (Finalternatives)
A group of Texas and Oklahoma guar farmers has struck a deal to settle a dispute with a New York hedge fund. The dispute involves about 285 farmers who had shipped more than $20 million worth of guar beans (used in hydraulic fracturing) to a now-bankrupt processing plant near Lubbock, Texas owned by Scopia Capital Management. Earlier this year, the farmers filed five countersuits against Scopia alleging that the hedge fund and West Texas Guar conspired to not pay them for their crop last year.

Sears turns to Lampert again for cash before holiday season (Reuters)
Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:SHLD) plans to raise up to $625 million through an offering of 8 percent senior notes and warrants, in another effort to boost liquidity amid concerns among suppliers about its finances going into the holiday season. Sears shares rose about 7.5 percent in early trading. …The company has announced plans to raise a total of just over $2 billion this year, double the target it set in March. Most of this will come from Lampert and his hedge fund, ESL Investments Inc, which together own 48.5 percent of Sears.

Staten Island Man Charged With Running A Fake Hedge Fund (HedgeCo)
Staten Island resident, Anthony Coronati, an investment adviser to a fictitious hedge fund that he claimed would invest in equity securities, has been charged by the SEC with conducting several fraudulent securities offerings and siphoning some of the money raised from investors for a Caribbean vacation and plastic surgery. When the money began drying up, he went on to defraud investors in additional schemes involving a New Jersey-based company Bidtoask LLC. Coronati and Bidtoask sold membership interests in the company for the purpose of investing in promising technology companies that had yet to hold initial public offerings (IPOs). However, Bidtoask did not even own the shares of other technology companies in which it was supposedly investing, and these companies were not actually in the process of an IPO.

Strippers Accused Of Robbing Hedge-Fund Manager Face Jail (Finalternatives)
A group of alleged stripper-thieves—whose victims include a hedge-fund manager—all face jail time under plea deals proffered by prosecutors. The four strippers, and a strip-club manager, who was offered a no-jail plea agreement, allegedly ripped victims off to the tune of almost $200,000. According to the indictment, the quartet would “fish” for victims at ritzy bars in New York City and on Long Island, texting the “worthy targets” to meet up later. Then, they would allegedly drug the men and take them to one of two strip clubs, Scores in Manhattan and Roadhouse NYC in Queens. Once there, the strippers allegedly took the men to private rooms where the men handed over their credit cards.

Stimulus won’t be removed ‘anytime soon’: Pro (CNBC)





Page 1 of 2