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.
The Business Insider – We’re eagerly awaiting the testimony of energy fund billionaire John Arnold before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission today, and not just for the obvious reasons.
Former Enron trader Arnold presumably became the second-youngest self-made billionaire in the country in part by exploiting the same speculation spree that two years ago caused gas prices to triple while world oil demand was actually falling.
The Business Insider – Nassim Taleb and his hedge-fund partner Mark Spitznagel weigh in in the FT with an analysis of the world’s problem (too much debt) and a reasonable solution (convert some of the debt to equity).
As usual, Taleb lards up his argument with guru-speak and smug swipes at every other economist on the planet, which undermine the point. But in this case, the point is a good one.
Converting debt to equity is what corporations do when they go bankrupt. GM and Chrysler just did it, and the airlines will do it next time they go bust. Same for the hundreds of other companies that go broke every year.
The Business Insider – It looks like the "surgical" 30-60 day bankruptcy may be a go.
Late last night, after a marathon session in court, Judge Arthur Gonzalez basically approved the plan to merge Chrysler into Fiat, rejecting the claims from the senior secured (though minority) bondholders.
The Business Insider – Barack Obama’s decision to paint the hedge funds in the Chrysler case as anti-American obstructionists is prompting death threats against them.
That’s at least what their lead laywer Thomas Lauria is saying, reports The Detroit News. He said in court that the threats have been turned over to the FBI.
We assume Lauria is being honest — you don’t say this stuff in court and turn it over to the FBI if it’s rubbish — though we’ll note that Lauria is being pretty provocative in his attempt to win the war of public opinion in the Chrysler case. He’s of course been airing the complain that one redoubt, Parella Weinberg, only decided to go along with the Rattner plan upon receiving thuggish threats of intimidation.
