Hedge Fund News: John Paulson, David Einhorn, Apple Inc. (AAPL)

Future Fund cuts alternatives exposure (IPE.com)
Australia’s A$85bn ($86.4bn) government-owned Future Fund has reduced its portfolio allocation to alternative investments by 3.5% in one year, the fund’s latest portfolio update confirms. The Future Fund’s holdings in alternative assets, which largely comprise hedge fund strategies, dropped from 18.8% of the portfolio in March 2012 to 15.3% as at 31 March. The Fund’s head of public affairs, Will Heatherton, told IPA: “The change over the 12 months reflects adjustments to the portfolio as we develop and implement new strategies and as existing strategies are reduced or refreshed once the original investment case is met.” In dollar terms, the fund now holds A$13bn in alternative assets, down from A$14.4bn in March 2012. The fund had A$7.8bn invested in alternatives in March 2010, from a base of only A$1.9bn in 2009.

Napier Park Investing in Railcars Joins Icahn to Buffett (Bloomberg)
Napier Park Global Capital, the $6.8 billion hedge fund spun out of Citigroup Inc. (NYSE:C), is investing $362 million in a railcar leasing venture, betting on an industry favored by billionaires Carl Icahn and Warren Buffett. Napier Park is forming a partnership with Trinity Industries, Inc. (NYSE:TRN) to acquire about $1 billion of railcars by the end of 2014, according to a statement. Napier Park also will provide financing to a second entity that owns an additional 14,455 cars, Dallas-based Trinity said yesterday. Demand for new rolling stock to carry railroads’ rising crude-oil shipments is benefiting Buffett and Icahn. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.B) owns railcar maker Union Tank Car Co., while Icahn controls 56 percent of manufacturer American Railcar Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARII).

Citadel Vet Youderian Joins PTIA (FINalternatives)
Ethan Youderian, who started his career at the Chicago-based Citadel Investment Group, has become CIO for another Windy City firm, Performance Trust Investment Advisors. Youderian, who joined Citadel in 1994, was a managing director and senior portfolio manager responsible for the firm’s multi-billion-dollar North American convertible bond portfolio. In 2005, he joined a Chicago startup company as executive vice president, and eventually became a member of its board of directors. From 2009, Youderian was a portfolio manager/strategist for a Lake Forest, IL-based proprietary trading firm where he ran complex strategies employing corporate bonds, swaps, derivatives, currencies, equities and Treasuries.