Billionaire Ken Griffin Likes Halcon for Oil and Gas (InsiderMonkey)
Citadel Investment Group, a large hedge fund managed by billionaire Ken Griffin, has acquired 11.2 million shares of oil and gas company Halcon Resources Corp (NYSE:HK). According to a 13G filed with the SEC, Citadel now owns 5.2% of the shares outstanding. Citadel’s 13F filing for the third quarter of 2012 showed that the fund had owned 8.9 million shares at the end of September, nearly triple what it had owned three months earlier, and clearly the fund has continued buying shares over the last two months. Find more of Griffin’s stock picks from the end of September. We covered a large insider purchase at Halcon in mid September (read more about the $700,000 insider buy). In addition, our database of insider trading filings shows buying by eight different insiders in November.
Kincaid: George Soros Wins Big Over Karl Rove (GOPUSA)
Fox News contributor Karl Rove was criticized in the media for objecting to the channel calling Ohio for Barack Obama on election night. The state of Ohio did in fact go for Obama and the channel was correct in making that prediction. Like many other Fox News commentators, Rove had mistakenly forecast a Romney victory. He was only alone in thinking this was still possible as election night wore on and the results from Ohio came in. A more important controversy, however, is what Rove, former Deputy Chief of Staff and Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush, did with the $300 million that he raised from conservative donors for the purpose of defeating Barack Obama and electing a Republican Senate.
Icahn Sees Second-Time Charm as Greenbrier Value Falls: Real M&A (SFGate)
For Carl Icahn’s pursuit of Greenbrier Companies Inc (NYSE:GBX), the second time could be the charm after the railcar maker fell to its lowest valuation in six years. Icahn disclosed a 9.99 percent stake in Greenbrier last month and sought to discuss options with management four years after dropping an attempt to link up the company with American Railcar Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARII). The activist investor resurfaced after a more than 40 percent drop in the shares left Lake Oswego, Oregon-based Greenbrier at its cheapest price relative to earnings since 2006, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
SEC Staff to Host Decimalization Roundtable (SEC)
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that its staff will host a roundtable early next year to discuss the impact of decimal-based stock trading on small and mid-sized companies, market professionals, investors, and U.S. securities markets. The roundtable will be held on Feb. 5 at the SEC’s Washington, D.C., headquarters, and will be open to the public and webcast live on the SEC’s website. Information on the agenda and participants will be issued shortly.
Hedge Funds Win as Europe Will Pay More for Greek Bonds (Bloomberg)
Hedge funds invested in Greek debt are poised to be winners after European policy makers flinched and raised the price for how much the recession-stricken country would pay to buy back its bonds. Hedge funds drove up prices for Greek sovereign debt last week after determining that European finance ministers would back off a pledge to pay no more than about 28 percent of face value to retire the nation’s bonds. Money managers correctly wagered that not enough bondholders would participate at that level to get the deal done. That would put at risk bailout funds that Greece needs to stave off economic collapse.
