Editor’s Note: Related tickers: Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE:CS), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH), Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE:HLF), Nuance Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:NUAN), Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS), Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO)
Billionaire hedge fund manager Louis Bacon is placing a big bet on mid-market lending by backing a new firm that is seeking to raise a $750 million debt fund aiming at the lower end of the middle market, two sources told sister magazine Buyouts. Bacon, the founder of Moore Capital Management LP, a New York-based hedge fund, has committed to provide an estimated $200 million cornerstone pledge to MC Credit, a firm that has been reconstituted to reflect its new source of capital, said a person familiar with the fundraising effort. MC Credit launched in May as the successor to Cyan Partners, a lower mid-market lender founded in 2008 by Ashok Nayyar, who had been co-head of global leveraged finance at Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) from 2006 to 2008 and before that a managing director in the leveraged finance group at Citigroup from 1997 to 2006.
Credit Suisse replaces Morgan Stanley as No. 2 Asia prime broker (Reuters)
The Asian prime brokerage unit of Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE:CS) has replaced Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) as the second largest firm servicing the region’s $148 billion hedge funds industry, a survey showed. The annual survey by industry tracker AsiaHedge, released this week, found that Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) remains Asia’s top prime broker with 179 clients and total assets under management of $24.6 billion. Credit Suisse Group AG (NYSE:CS) overtook Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by adding 14 new clients and $2.4 billion in assets over the last year, a first for any prime broker in Asia, the survey showed.
UK-based hedge fund holds off US dominance to crack big league of top hedgie performers (CityAM)
A BOUTIQUE London-based hedge fund has smashed into the top three best performing funds in the world this year, breaking the dominance of US hedge fund managers, according to a poll. Chenavari Investment Managers, which is based near Hyde Park, polled third in a rundown of the year’s 100 best performing hedge funds compiled by Barron’s after its Chenavari Toro Capital IA soared to a three-year compound return of 46.54 per cent a year. Just 18 of the 100 hedge funds on the list are based outside of the US. The average return of the 100 is 17.42 per cent.
Sensato Doubts Japan Stock Valuation After Hedge Fund’s 15% Gain (BusinessWeek)
Sensato Capital Management LLC, the Man Group Plc-backed manager of $1.3 billion assets, said Japanese stock valuations are no longer attractive after its Asia hedge fund returned 15 percent this year through April. The Sensato Asia-Pacific Master Fund returned almost 7 percent in April, the second-strongest monthly performance since it opened to investors in June 2010, according to a newsletter to investors. Bets on rising Japanese stocks were a big contributor, the San Francisco-based manager added. The Nikkei 225 (NKY) Stock Average surged almost 12 percent last month to the highest level since 2008 after the Bank of Japan said it will double the monetary base in its biggest round of quantitative easing.
Dish’s Ergen eyes LightSquared spectrum (Reuters)
Charlie Ergen, the chairman of U.S. satellite company DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH), has offered to buy bankrupt broadband company LightSquared Inc’s wireless airwaves, a source close to Ergen told Reuters. Ergen’s offer for LightSquared spectrum is valued at $2 billion, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the bid. LightSquared, which declared bankruptcy in May 2012, was bankrolled by one of the hedge fund industry’s most powerful figures, Philip Falcone.
Hedge Fund Can’t Force Arbitration In MBS Dispute (Finalternatives)
If Turnberry Capital Management wants its $13 million back from SunTrust Banks, it will have to seek it in the courts. A federal judge in New York sided with SunTrust on Friday, blocking the hedge fund’s arbitration claim against the bank. Turnberry, which went under in 2008, is seeking $13 million it lost on mortgage-backed securities issued by SunTrust the year before. Turnberry wanted the case heard by a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel. But U.S. District Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald ruled that the hedge fund doesn’t qualify as a SunTrust customer under FINRA rules.
Kings Won’t Be Sold To Hedge Fund Manager (Finalternatives)
Within days of the death of his plan to move the Sacramento Kings to his hometown, hedge fund manager Christopher Hansen‘s dream of buying the team went the same way. The Kings’ current majority owners have agreed to sell their stake in the basketball team to a group led by technology investor Vivek Ranadive. The new owners will pay less than Hansen had offered, but will keep the team in California’s capital. “We just need to sign some papers and finalize everything,” Ranadive told the Sacramento Bee.
