Each business day HedgeCo.Net keeps you informed with the top hedge fund industry news, opinion and insight from around the globe. From the latest hedge fund launches, to the impact of regulation, competition, and investor activism - we track the topics and people that make a difference to you.
Business Week – A hedge fund known for shaking up underperforming companies has increased its stake in Cablevision Systems Corp. to 9.1 percent, according to a regulatory filing Thursday.
Harbinger Capital Partners now owns more than 21 million shares of the diversified cable operator, up from nearly 19 million shares, or 8.1 percent of Class A shares, its stake as of a regulatory filing made last month. In an earlier August filing, Harbinger disclosed that it held a 4.9 percent stake. The Dolan family owns the Class B shares.
"As we stated previously, we welcome all investors and their focus on enhancing value for all shareholders," said Charlie Schueler, spokesman for Bethpage, N.Y.-based Cablevision.
Reuters – U.S. private equity house Lone Star is seriously considering suing the South Korean government if it delays approval beyond September of the firm’s $6.3 billion sale of shares in a local bank, a newspaper reported on Friday.
English language daily The Korea Times said Lone Star was mulling a suit claiming losses from the government for delaying the sale of shares in Korea Exchange Bank.
Lone Star’s PR agency in Seoul declined to comment and a lawyer representing Lone Star was not available for immediate comment.
Last September, Lone Star LS.UL agreed to sell its 51 percent stake in KEB the country’s No. 6 lender, to UK-based HSBC for $6.3 billion.
But HSBC’s offer lapsed on July 31, with the government delaying approval of the KEB sale, citing legal uncertainties relating to Lone Star’s South Korean activities. The deal is still awaiting regulatory approval.
"Beleaguered with growing complaints from investors, Lone Star is considering returning its KEB shares in-kind to investors as one possible option, together with a block sale option," the Korea Times cited an unnamed source close to the deal as saying.
Reuters – China Investment Corp, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, will start investing in Japanese equity markets by March, a Japanese newspaper reported on Sunday.
The $200 billion (111 billion pounds) fund is screening Japanese banks at which it holds accounts to settle yen transactions, Japan’s Mainichi Shimbun daily reported.
The paper also said a Chinese government-affiliated think tank had conducted research on how Japanese companies would react if the fund were to build a 20 percent stake in them.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Shareholders in Falkland Gold & Minerals have approved plans to buy Bahamas-based oil exploration company BPC after a unanimous vote yesterday.
Philip Richards, head of the RAB Special Situations Fund that owns a 76 percent stake in Falkland, will pocket around £1m thanks to the reverse takeover and his vast personal stake in BPC of 300,000 shares.
While there has been some question regarding a possible conflict of interest with a hedge fund manager having that kind of stake in a company, Richards has been completely transparent in his holdings long before the meeting in which shareholders overwhelmingly approved the takeover.
"This was a deal recommended by two strong independent and separate boards, both of which concluded that it was in the best interest of all their respective shareholders," said a spokesperson for RAB.
Shareholders will get six shares of Falkland for every one share of BPC.
RAB made headlines when the fund experienced sharp declines amidst the nationalization of Northern Rock, in which they amassed a significant stake. Meanwhile, Falkland has posted losses of over 90 percent over the past four years, prompting investors in the Special Situations Fund to lose an estimated £11m.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
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Chicago Tribune – The leader of an activist hedge fund with a significant stake in Sara Lee Corp. has been added to the foodmaker’s board of directors.
Downers Grove-based Sara Lee said Thursday that it is expanding its 10-member board by one, naming Jeffrey Ubben, founder and chief executive of ValueAct Capital, to the new spot. Last winter, San Francisco-based ValueAct bought a 5 percent stake in Sara Lee, maker of bread, hot dogs and meat products sold under such brands as Hillshire Farms and Jimmy Dean.
Activist investors often buy into what they perceive as undervalued companies and then urge significant changes. But ValueAct is considered less strident than some other activist funds, saying at the time of its purchase that it had no plans to push for strategic change at Sara Lee and was comfortable with the firm’s direction.
Neither Sara Lee, which is in the midst of a multiyear turnaround effort, nor ValueAct could be reached.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Harbinger Capital Partners is no stranger to aggressively seeking strategic changes within companies in which they invest. This month, it’s Harbinger vs. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. The mining company is urging shareholders to reject a bid by the activist hedge fund that would give them veto power over one of Cleveland-Cliffs proposed acquisitions.
Harbinger is the company’s largest shareholder with a 15.5 percent stake. The hedge fund is protesting the potential acquisition of Alpha Natural Resources in what would be a $8.1 billion deal. Harbinger believes it is not in the best interest of the shareholders. Meanwhile, the hedge fund is trying to increase its stake in Cleveland-Cliffs to as much as one-third.
Harbinger has made headlines recently for similar antics involving their other investments, including the New York Times and Media General. Harbinger was awarded two seats on the board of the Times, while acquiring three seats on Media General’s board.
In order for the deal to take place, 66 percent of shareholders must approve the bid for Alpha. The vote which will decide Harbinger’s control share acquisition will take place on October 3.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds! Be sure to check out our sister sites. For more information, visit www.hedgeconetworks.com
Tampa Tribune – Yahoo is recounting the shareholder vote for its board of directors after discovering that a tabulating firm failed to register the opposition of a major investor.
The revision won’t change the outcome of Friday’s election, which retained Yahoo’s incumbent directors despite shareholder anger about the board’s handling of a now-withdrawn $47.5 billion takeover bid from Microsoft Corp.
However, the change will add a little more punch to the protest against the Yahoo board. The directors re-elected last week had been supported by at least 78 percent of the votes cast, based on the original results.
"It’s important for Yahoo’s board to understand there is still pressure on them," said Eric Jackson, a hedge fund manager who represents a group of stockholders with about 3.2 million Yahoo shares. "I thought Yahoo’s board was kind of let off the hook last week when they didn’t really deserve to be."
Capital Research Global Investors, which owns a 6.2 percent stake in Yahoo, lodged the inquiry Monday that resulted in the election recount. Convinced that its opposition to Yahoo’s board wasn’t reflected in last week’s vote, Capital Research demanded an audit from Broadridge Financial Solutions, the processing firm responsible for casting its ballot.
Reuters – An activist British hedge fund has taken a 6 percent stake in Washington Mutual Inc as the largest U.S. savings and loan tries to rebound from billions of dollars of mortgage-related losses.
The London-based fund, Toscafund Asset Management, also reported a 5.1 percent stake in Sovereign Bancorp Inc, the second-largest U.S. thrift.
Toscafund revealed the passive stakes in separate filings Thursday with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Milwaukee Business Journal – An activist British hedge fund has taken a 5 percent stake inSovereign Bankcorp Inc.,according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
London-based Toscafund Asset Management said its passive stake amounts to 33.5 million shares.
Banco Santander Central Hispano, Spain’s largest bank, owns roughly a quarter of Sovereign’s stock and ultimately can exercise an option to buy the Philadelphia-based bank.
Sovereign has struggled after years of rapid expansion through acquisition. The bank’s stock price has fallen in the last year from roughly $20 and bottomed out at $7 as it suffered negative earnings caused by some problem loans. The stock closed down 1 percent Thursday at $9.52. Under new CEO Joseph Campanelli, Sovereign has focused the last year on reducing the size of its balance sheet risk and zeroing in on its core mid-Atlantic and New England retail markets.
Reuters- U.S. asset manager BlackRock Inc gave details on Tuesday of the revised agreements it has struck with top shareholder Merrill Lynch & Co Inc that, among other things, try to protect BlackRock’s interests if Merrill’s structure changes substantially.
Merrill is BlackRock’s biggest shareholder and decided last week to retain its 49.8 percent stake in the biggest publicly traded U.S. asset manager after weighing whether to sell it in full or part to raise capital.
In a filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, BlackRock said the revised Stockholder agreement has expanded the definition of change of control at Merrill Lynch to include the disposition of two-thirds or more of Merrill’s global private client business.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Inmarsat shares took a dive yesterday after hedge fund Harbinger Capital halted talks of a possible takeover. Harbinger has amassed a 28 percent stake in the U.K.-based mobile satellite communications group.
Harbinger, who has AUM upwards of $26 billion, decided to hold off after considering the lengthy process ahead in which they would have to gain clearance from the FCC.
“Harbinger remains interested in acquiring control of Inmarsat and is therefore actively considering whether to pursue the relevant regulatory and competition approvals in order to be able to make an offer for Inmarsat in the future,” the company said.
The hedge fund expressed interest in the company in hopes that Inmarsat might contribute to a U.S development of a satellite-based mobile phone network.
“Assuming there is an acceptable conclusion to the regulatory approval process, Harbinger would intend to re-enter into discussions with the board of Inmarsat regarding the terms of an offer and endeavour to seek a recommendation from the Inmarsat board at that time,” they added.
Harbinger isn’t the only hedge fund as of late to accumulate shares in Inmarsat. Landsdowne Partners and Lehman Brothers have also been tapping into this market in hopes of consolidation in the industry.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
HedgeCo.Net is a premier hedge fund database and community for qualified and accredited investors only. Membership on www.hedgeco.net is FREE and EASY. We also offer FREE LISTINGS for Hedge Funds! Be sure to check out our sister sites. For more information, visit www.hedgeconetworks.com
BOSTON (Reuters) – Keeley Asset Management, which made its name by selecting small and forgotten companies, said on Wednesday that it took an 18 percent stake in beleaguered money manager Pzena Investment Management.
Keeley now owns 1.09 million Pzena shares, making it one of the company’s biggest owners, according to a regulatory filing.
"They have been through some pretty tough times in the last 12 months, but we still think they are a pretty good shop," said Mark Keeley, who oversees marketing for Chicago-based Keeley, a 26-year-old, family-owned investment firm.
