Hedge Fund News: Michael Platt, Ken Fisher, Wells Fargo & Co (WFC)

…the coming weeks. All will be honored and winners will be announced and awarded at a dinner and ceremony at the Mandarin Oriental in New York City on Thursday, June 27, 2013.

Hedge Fund Leverage Increases In Feb. (FINalternatives)
The New York Stock Exchange Debt Margin was $366 billion, $2 billion higher than in January. Hedge fund leverage is still $15 billion below its peak level, $381 billion, reached in July 2007.

Gottex Penjing finds value in smaller Asian hedge fund managers (Opalesque)
May last year saw Swiss headquartered fund of fund specialist Gottex Fund Management announce its purchase of Hong Kong based Penjing Asset Management, thereby creating the Gottex Penjing Asset Management, under new chief executive officer Max Gottschalk with about $700m of its $7bn deployed in Asia hedge funds.

Apple Inc. (AAPL): Billionaire Ken Fisher Just Gave The Stock a Giant Vote of Confidence (Insider Monkey)
Billionaire Ken Fisher is an investment fund manager, not a hedge fund manager, and he chooses to disclose his 13F filings, which are used to track the equity holdings of prominent investors, earlier than his peers. 13F forms are very useful for investors, who like to use it as a way to find stock ideas for further research. According to a filing from April 8th, Fisher has rencently increased his stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 551,660 shares. Owning at the end of 2012 a total of 949,124 shares, Fisher currently has 1,500,784 shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), according to a Form 13F filed by Fisher Asset Management’s Chief Compliance Officer, Tom Fishel to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Federal judge tosses Nadel receiver’s lawsuit against Wells Fargo (The Business Journals)
A Tampa federal judge dismissed claims against Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) that alleged it aided and abetted Arthur Nadel’s $168 million Ponzi scam. Tampa lawyer Burton Wiand, court-appointed receiver, filed the lawsuit in February 2012 as part of attempts to recover money for investors bilked in Nadel’s hedge fund scheme.

Hedge Fund Vets Launch $100M Litigation Finance Fund (FINalternatives)
A pair of hedge fund veterans have launched a $100 million litigation finance firm, seeking to profit from others’ legal disputes. Gerchen Keller Capital closed on its first investment this month, following in the footsteps of six-year-old Juridica Capital Management and four-year-old Burford Capital, both of which have listed funds in London. Two other litigation finance firms, BlackRobe Capital and Fulbrook Capital Management, debuted in 2011, and Credit Suisse’s unit spun off as Parabellum Capital last year. Firm founders Adam Gerchen and Ashley Keller were colleagues at Chicago hedge fund Alyeska Investment Group before launching the litigation finance firm alongside former Boeing Co. senior counsel Travis Lenkner and former Synthes and Medtronic general counsel Terrance Carlson.