Hedge Fund News: Leon Cooperman, Phil Falcone & Sandell Asset Management

Despite “Disappointing” Performance, Omega’s Cooperman Still Likes Stocks (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
Omega Advisors founder Leon Cooperman is having a rough year so far. However, the ex-Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) partner is still bullish on stocks. In his third-quarter letter to clients, dated October 27, Cooperman concedes that the firm’s 2.5 percent loss in the third quarter and 2.1 percent gain for the first three quarters was “disappointing.” However, he still thinks stocks are the best place to put your money, even given the market’s gut-wrenching volatility for most of October.

OMEGA ADVISORS

Two Sigma gathers $3.3 billion for model-driven macro fund (PIOnline)
Two Sigma raised $3.3 billion for a macro hedge fund in one the largest new pools of such capital raised since the 2008 financial crisis. Investors sought out the fund, which can bet on macroeconomic trends by investing in equities, fixed income, commodities and currencies, because it seeks to generate returns not tied to the market, said Nobel Gulati, CEO at Two Sigma Advisers, the part of the New York-based firm that manages money for pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and other institutional clients.

Dan Gold Explains QVT’s October Losses in Memorable Letter (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
Daniel Gold’s QVT Onshore, managed by his New York-based hedge fund firm, QVT Financial, took a beating in the first half of October – and the manager is plenty mad about it. In a letter fired off to clients and dated October 17, the onetime Deutsche Bank AG (USA) (NYSE:DB) trader points out that the fund lost 3.23 percent this month through October 15, expanding a slight loss to a 3.45 percent decline for the year. “There’s no getting around it – our performance this month is worse than it should have been,” Gold writes in the letter, obtained…

JDS Uniphase Could Sell Optics Unit Before Spin-Off Date (Benzinga)
JDS Uniphase Corp (NASDAQ:JDSU) gained more than 4 percent Thursday after the company beat expectations and said it would consider selling its optics and laser business rather than spinning off as expected. JDS Uniphase announced plans for the spin-off in September. But activist hedge fund Sandell Asset Management recently pushed for a sale of the unit. JDS’ Chief Executive Thomas H. Waechter told investors Wednesday that the company remains committed to the spin-off, expected in the third quarter of 2015.

Huh! Where did that copper market surplus go?: Andy Home (Reuters)
“Who’s got all the copper?” was the headline question in my last column on the copper market at the end of September. The answer, according to the Wall Street Journal, is Red Kite, the specialist metals hedge fund set up by Michael Farmer, a man who was trading the copper market before many younger readers were born. Well…maybe. But…maybe not. It’s always a bit tricky to say in the hall-of-mirrors that is the London Metal Exchange (LME).

Stocks will move higher in next 15 months: Fund manager (CNBC)

What are you really getting from your long short hedge fund? (ProfessionalPlanner)
In this way, the fund reduces market risk and also presents the opportunity for investors to profit in both up and down markets. Put simply, a long short hedge fund looks to maximise total returns by taking long positions in stocks the manager expects will increase in value, and short positions in stocks expected to decrease in value. In this way, the fund reduces market risk and also presents the opportunity for investors to profit in both up and down markets.

A Hedge Fund Manager Vanished After Credit Suisse Accidentally Wired Him $1.5 Million (BusinessInsider)
Last January, Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE:CS) wired $1.5 million to hedge fund manager Joseph B. Galbraith. One month later he disappeared off the map. According to a New York Times report, two weeks after Credit Suisse wired the money in three transactions to Galbraith, the bank realized that it made a mistake. “At the time of the wire transfers, the hedge fund, Galbraith Capital Investment Management, was winding down operations and it had no cash left in its account with Credit Suisse,” according to the New York Times.

Hedge fund manager left investors £370m poorer (FTAdviser)
A hedge fund manager who left investors £370m out of pocket persuaded a financier into pouring his clients’ cash into a doomed scheme, Southwark Crown Court has heard. Magnus Peterson, founder of Weavering Capital, left the massive deficit after his firm collapsed following the global banking crisis. Peterson, 51, convinced intermediary company Ermitage Ltd that his second company Macro Fund was a solid choice with little risk to investors. But he blew 20 per cent of his entire account “within a few days” of disastrous trading, jurors heard.

Kleinberg, Kaplan Expands Hedge Fund Team (Finalternatives)
Hedge fund law firm Kleinberg, Kaplan, Wolff & Cohen has tapped Jared R. Gianatasio as senior counsel, focused on investment funds and derivatives. Gianatasio was previously a senior associate in the New York office of Shearman & Sterling where he practiced in the firm’s derivatives and investment funds practice. Gianatasio, whose arrival follows that of Joseph Iskowitz in August, has extensive experience representing market participants in the structuring and documentation of complex over-the-counter and exchange-traded derivatives transactions.

Harbinger Group Leases Soho Space (CommercialObserver)
Publicly traded holding company Harbinger Group has landed new office space in Soho, Commercial Observer has learned. The company, which is run by hedge fund manager Philip A. Falcone and is an affiliate of the hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, took 6,000 square feet on the third floor of Zar Property‘s 64 Wooster Street between Broome and Spring Streets, according to sources with knowledge of the deal. Harbinger signed the lease for one of its companies. It is for 10 years and the asking rent was $79 per square foot, the sources said.

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