Hedge Fund News: Paul Singer, Eric Mindich, Jana Partners

Agnellis Shun Hedge Fund Approach With $6.4 Billion Plan (Bloomberg)
The Agnelli family’s Exor SpA, known for investments in cars and soccer, is dismissing the prevailing reinsurance strategies as it seeks to push into the industry with a $6.4 billion takeover. Exor is shunning the idea that it should take on more risk in PartnerRe Ltd.’s investment portfolio after making an unsolicited buyout offer for the Bermuda-based company. That contrasts with the approach of money managers like David Einhorn, Dan Loeb and John Paulson who moved into reinsurance to gain access to assets that can be invested using their hedge-fund strategies.

Why Hillary Clinton is Going After Hedge Funds (CNN)
Hillary Clinton’s got a problem with hedge fund managers — or at least with the way they’re taxed. The expected frontrunner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination is avoiding policy specifics for now, but the taxation of hedge fund managers — an elite class of investors who will no doubt pour millions into Clinton’s second White House bid — has been an early exception. “There’s something wrong when hedge fund managers pay lower tax rates than nurses or the truckers that I saw on I-80 as I was driving here,” Clinton told a small group of roundtable participants in Monticello, Iowa, this week.

Upstart Investor Raids Three From Big Banks (CNBC)
A fast-growing asset management firm has landed three big hires from large banks in recent weeks. Paul Germain, the global head of prime brokerage at Credit Suisse, Tomer Seifan, the head of institutional solutions in the New York office of BNP Paribas, and Guillaume Auvray, an executive specialized in systematic trading and derivatives at Morgan Stanley, are set to join New York-based Stone Ridge Asset Management, according to a person familiar with the situation.

Northwest Hedge Funds Gain as Much as 46% on ‘Trade of the Year’ (Bloomberg)
The “trade of the year” is reaping rewards for investors in Northwest Investment Management (HK)’s hedge funds. Cheaper valuations of Chinese companies’ Hong Kong-quoted class-H shares will persist for at least another three to six months, said George Philips, chief executive officer of the company that oversees about $700 million of assets. That is helping the firm to profit from their discounts to China-listed, yuan-denominated class-A shares, Philips said.