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.
Houston Chronicle – Boone Pickens, the billionaire founder of BP Capital LLC, said 15 percent of his hedge funds’ holders have asked for the option to withdraw their money after he lost more than $1 billion in energy trades this year.
Pickens, who manages funds linked to energy commodities and equities, said his equity fund has taken a "real hit" as oil company stocks and oil prices have plummeted.
"I feel like all my fingers are mashed in the door right now," Pickens, 80, said on CNBC today. "I’m trying to get someone to open the door for me."
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Pickens was having his worst performance in 10 years, with his funds losing about $1 billion.
"It’s more than that now," Pickens said.
Pickens said his funds require a 90-day notice to withdraw money, "so if we can recover in the fourth quarter," people might reconsider exiting.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – The British Financial Services Authority has imposed a fine on Steven Harrison for about $93,000 after accusing him of market abuse. Harrison will not be allowed to work as a trader for the next 12 months.
According to the allegations made by the FSA, Harrison told a co-worker at the Moore Credit Fund to purchase 2 million 10.5 percent senior notes in chemical company Rhodia SA, after having received insider information from members at Credit Suisse. Harrison was contacted in September 2006 by Credit Suisse to help them establish pricing for Rhodia’s bonds.
Knowing that Rhodia would be seeking board approval for its refinancing, Harrison made the order. The fund proceeded to make about $63,000 off that knowledge, though the FSA is not condemning the actions of Credit Suisse.
The FSA also acknowledged that Harrison did not make a personal profit from those trades. Harrison worked for Moore Europe Capital Management; a subsidiary of New-York based Moore Capital Management.
Moore Capital has a long standing reputation in the states for the global-macro strategies they employ, while investing in stocks, bonds and currencies. Founded by U.S. billionaire Louis Bacon in 1989, Moore Capital manages an estimated $15 billion in assets.
This is the latest in a string of attempts by the FSA to further probe hedge funds, after passing two new rules this summer requiring disclosure about shorting stocks and regarding derivatives.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
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Reuters – Billionaire investor George Soros hiked his stake in Wall Street firm Lehman Brothers to 9.5 million shares as of June 30 from 10,000 shares, according to a U.S. regulatory filing on Thursday.
Soros disclosed the quarter-over-quarter increase in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Soros raised his stake in Lehman ahead of a turbulent month for the investment bank, whose shares plunged in mid-July amid a broader sell-off in financials sparked by concern about government-backed mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Lehman shares rose 63 cents, or 4.1 percent, to close at $16.20 before the news. They are down 18 percent since the end of June and off 75 percent so far this year.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – John Paulson, the infamous hedge fund manager turned billionaire who bet brilliantly against the housing market, will start a new fund later this year according to a report published on Bloomberg.com.
The new hedge fund will provide capital to financial institutions who have suffered losses due to mortgage writedowns. It was the exact scenario that Paulson predicted that caused the world’s largest banks to write down over $450 billion in losses stemming from the subprime mortgage fallout. In addition, it forced many hedge funds including the two from Bear Stearns that had invested in mortgage-backed securities to implode.
Paulson has not yet stated what his targets are for starting capital in the new hedge fund. Paulson made the Forbes annual list of billionaires for the first time, after taking home an estimated $3 billion in 2007. His firm, Paulson & Co. currently oversees over $33 billion in assets.
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
Guardian Unlimited- The struggling internet company Yahoo has struck a pact with its billionaire critic Carl Icahn by giving the hedge fund activist a minority presence on its board to avoid a potentially tempestuous showdown at a shareholder meeting next month.
Facing crumbling support among Yahoo investors, Icahn yesterday abandoned his efforts to overthrow the leadership of the embattled Silicon Valley company and force its sale to Microsoft.
Instead, the 72-year-old Icahn & Co hedge fund manager is settling for an offer of three seats on Yahoo’s board. One director will stand down and the board will expand from nine to 11 members. Wall Street analysts greeted it as a qualified victory for Yahoo’s founder, Jerry Yang, who has pressed hard to maintain its independence and who waged an energetic campaign to discredit Icahn.
Bloomberg- Assured Guaranty Ltd., which owns one of two bond insurers to have retained Aaa credit ratings, said its second-quarter profit would surge by more than 14 times because of gains in credit derivatives.
The company, whose second-biggest shareholder is billionaire investor Wilbur Ross, expects to post net income ranging from $515 million to $565 million, or $6.18 per share, for the quarter ended June 30, due to unrealized gains between $475 million and $525 million on credit derivatives, according to a statement today. Profit was $32.8 million, or 47 cents a share, in the same period of 2007.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Hedge Funder Eric Jackson of Ironfire Capital will call on Yahoo Inc. to accept a board of directors mixed with members both proposed by the company and from a dissident slate backed by billionaire investor Carl Icahn.
Jackson, who heads the grassroots group Yahoo Plan B, wants five members to come from Yahoo and four to be elected from Icahn’s proposed slate of nine.
"It’s become clear over the last two weeks that many shareholders are reluctant to support the entire list of Icahn nominees," Jackson said in a statement expected to be issued today.
Icahn had launched his proxy battle two months ago when he rationalized that Yahoo head Jerry Yang was not looking out for the shareholders when he rejected Microsoft’s $33 a share bid on the company.
It was then that Icahn proposed his slate of board directors which included himself, Frank Biondi, Robert Shaye and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Icahn proceeded to garner the support of many prominent hedge funds and wealthy shareholders, though some have been reluctant to put all their faith in the corporate raider.
Jackson is hoping the two parties can reach an agreement before the showdown happens at Yahoo’s annual shareholder meeting on August 1st.
The Yahoo Plan B group is a Web-based activist group comprised of 150 small Yahoo shareholders who hold about 3.2 million Yahoo shares. Members of the group vote individually rather than as a group.
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
Mining MX- The question as to whether the oil price has been driven higher by speculators is highly emotive. Many supporters of the idea want a clampdown on speculation while others say that would be dangerous and futile interference in the market. Oil-producing cartel Opec blamed speculators and a weak dollar for US$45 of the price when it hit $142/barrel.
The oil price has doubled in a year and at the time of writing was trading below its peak of more than $140/barrel. Opec’s views on speculation received support from a serious source: George Soros, the billionaire hedge fund manager who has himself profited massively from speculation in the past. Soros told a US Senate Committee last month that a massive bubble had built up in the oil market.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – After months of on-again off-again talks between Yahoo and Microsoft, the possibility of a merger looks to be back on.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft said they may be interested in restarting talks if the internet giant’s board was replaced, a move that billionaire tycoon Carl Icahn has been striving to achieve.
"If Microsoft and Mr. Ballmer really want to purchase Yahoo, we again invite them to make a proposal immediately," Yahoo said in a recent statement.
Icahn had launched a proxy battle to replace Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang and other members of the Yahoo board after they originally rejected Microsoft’s first offer for $47.5 billion. Icahn blamed it on Yang’s personal disdain for Microsoft and said they were not acting in the shareholders best interest. Backed by a few prominent hedge funds who also acquired massive shares in Yahoo, it looked as if Icahn was going to score a victory only to have talks cool shortly thereafter.
While some shareholders are reluctant at how Icahn would manage the company, others are urging him to push for fewer seats on the board. Yahoo’s annual shareholder meeting will be held on August 1st.
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 Globe- Carl Icahn has hit the roughest patch of his hedge fund career.
His $7.9 billion in hedge funds fell 7 percent between October and April, the biggest peak-to-trough loss since the funds opened in November 2004, according to investors. That compares with an average annual return on his investments of 53 percent from 1996 to mid-2004.
Icahn has lost money on cellular-phone maker Motorola Inc., his biggest investment. The 72-year-old billionaire also failed to persuade executives at Yahoo Inc. and Biogen Idec Inc. to take his advice for boosting their stock.
While falling equity markets and the slowing economy are beyond Icahn’s command, the setbacks at Yahoo and Biogen Idec don’t bode well for his future as an activist shareholder, said Brett Barth, a partner at New York-based BBR Partners, which has invested $1 billion in hedge funds.
Bloomberg- Carl Icahn has hit the roughest patch of his hedge-fund career.
His $7.9 billion in hedge funds fell 7 percent between October and April, the biggest peak-to-trough loss since the funds opened in November 2004, according to investors. That compares with an average annual return on his investments of 53 percent from 1996 to mid-2004.
Icahn has lost money on cellular-phone maker Motorola Inc., his biggest investment. The 72-year-old billionaire also failed to persuade executives at Yahoo! Inc. and Biogen Idec Inc. to take his advice for boosting their stock prices.
U.S. Daily- Belgian-Dutch financial services group Fortis received $630 million in capital from Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov as part of its recent share issue, the Wall Street Journal said, citing people familiar with the matter.
Fortis, which last week raised 1.5 billion euros ($2.4 billion) from the heavily discounted share issue, secured the money from Kerimov’s Swiss-based investment vehicle, Millennium Group, as part of the share issue, the people told the newspaper.
