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.
FierceFinance – David Einhorn, the head of Greenlight Capital, caused quite a stir at the Ira W. Sohn Investment Research Conference last year. He made it known that he was shorting Lehman Brothers, which was trading at $60 at the time. You know the rest of the story.
It’s no surprise that people, including a columnist for the New York Post, were interested in what he had to say at the conference this year. He didn’t deliver the same sort of shocker. Rather, he offered a sober analysis of the Obama Administration’s performance. He basically thinks that the focus on propping up banks hasn’t really done much to the economy as a whole.
Reuters – Some of the country’s biggest and best-known hedge fund managers on Wednesday shared their best investment and short-selling ideas with an audience of some 1,200 hedge fund executives.
The annual Ira Sohn Investment Research Conference raises millions of dollars for pediatric cancer research, but its high wattage speaker list also moves stocks. Last year Greenlight Capital’s David Einhorn predicted that Lehman Brothers had more troubles than they had let on, four months before the investment bank filed for bankruptcy
Marketwatch – David Einhorn, head of hedge-fund firm Greenlight Capital, called AAA credit ratings a curse and said he is betting against rating agency Moody’s, during a speech at a closely watched investment conference on Wednesday.
Einhorn said that many institutions with AAA ratings, including the U.S. government, turned that supposed benefit into a disaster by borrowing recklessly, according to a hedge-fund investor who attended the conference in New York and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The leading purveyor of AAA ratings is Moody’s (MCO), so Greenlight Capital is short that company’s shares, the investor quoted Einhorn as saying.
Bloomberg – At last year’s Ira W. Sohn Investment Research Conference, Greenlight Capital Inc.’s David Einhorn told an audience of hedge-fund managers that Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. wasn’t disclosing the whole truth about its finances.
Four months later, Lehman filed the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history. The conference attendees who followed his advice got a jump on the rest of the industry. They also got a tax write-off since all the registration fees go to cancer research and an art-therapy program for seriously ill children.
Bloomberg – Greenlight Capital Inc., the hedge- fund firm run by David Einhorn, added to its holdings of Ford Motor Co. debt in the first quarter and invested in EMC Corp., Harman International Industries Inc. and Pfizer Inc.
The hedge fund bought Ford’s high-yield, high-risk bank loans at an average price of 37 cents on the dollar starting in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to a May 1 letter the New York-based Greenlight sent to investors. The debt rose to 45 cents on the dollar when the first quarter ended, said the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News.
BusinessWeek – With the price of gold racing higher over the past two months, more investors are coming around to the notion that the precious metal may be the best option to protect against a possible economic catastrophe. Among the surprise new buyers? Star hedge fund manager David Einhorn.
Gold rose steadily from its November 2008 low of $682 to close at $910.70 on Jan. 26, a five-month high. Despite selling off about $10 an ounce over the next two days, investors, it seems, have realized that much of the Federal Reserve’s plan for fighting the credit crunch and reviving the economy are also likely to bolster gold’s prospects.
