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.
Hedgetracker – In this week’s hedge fund hire report, we look at firms that have recently added industry veterans to their teams. The investment firms covered in this report include: Harbinger Capital, SAC Capital Advisors and Crestwood Advisors.
First off is Philip Falcone’s Harbinger Capital Partners LLC. The activist hedge fund manager has hired Brad Kwong as a Managing Director in its New York office. Prior to joining Harbinger, Mr. Kwong spent almost 5 years at Tremblant Capital. Earlier in his career, he worked in the fixed division of Kidder Peabody, in addition to lengthy stints in the sports industry as CEO of Worldzap and Managing Director of the National Hockey League in Europe.
Telegraph.co.uk – The chatter was that Harbinger, a powerful US hedge fund run by Philip Falcone, has built a small stake in African Minerals and has been talking to London brokers in recent days about picking up more stock. Harbinger declined to comment.
If Harbinger has built a stake in the company, it is not clear what the hedge fund’s intentions are for African Minerals. The group runs a variety of strategies. Sometimes the investment fund acts as a passive, long-only investor. However, Harbinger also has a reputation for being activist and occasionally bids for companies. Last year, for example, Harbinger made a takeover approach for blue-chip satellite services group Inmarsat, which slipped 6.3 to 495.2p.
Mr Falcone is well known in City circles. The trader hit the headlines when it emerged that Harbinger was one of the main hedge funds to have shorted HBOS before the Government orchestrated the bank’s emergency merger with Lloyds, now Lloyds Banking Group.
Seeking Alpha – In a 13D filing with the SEC, Harbinger Capital Partners has revealed a new position in Zapata Corporation due to activity on June 17th, 2009. This is a brand new position for the hedge fund and it now shows a 51.3% ownership stake with 9,888,684 shares.
As defined in the 13D, Harbinger has, "Acquired beneficial ownership as a result of receiving certain proxies to vote the Shares. Until the Closing (as defined in Item 6), the Funds will not acquire a pecuniary interest in any of the Shares."
Daily Territorial – A third offer to take copper miner Asarco out of Chapter 11 was filed last week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Corpus Christi, Texas, by New York City-based hedge-fund manager Harbinger Capital Partners.
The $500 million reorganization is competing for control of Asarco with plans offered by Sterlite Industries, based in Mumbai, India, and Asarco’s parent company, Grupo Mexico.
The plan from Harbinger Capital, one of Asarco’s largest bondholders, is less than half the other offers but the investment firm says its offer is better because the other two either lack sufficient support from creditors or won’t meet bankruptcy court standards.
PerthNow – Mr Geffen tried to acquire a 19 per cent stake in the New York Times Company that was held by Harbinger Capital Partners, the activist hedge fund, but was rebuffed, it emerged overnight.
Since 1896, the newspaper has been controlled by the Ochs-Sulzberger family, whose members maintain their grip with a separate class of super-voting shares.
However, the dominance of the family, headed by Arthur Sulzberger, has come under pressure as advertising has collapsed and losses have mounted, which have led to speculation that The New York Times may be sold.
Reuters – Media mogul David Geffen tried to buy a stake in the New York Times Co from hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners, but was rejected, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Monday.
Geffen offered to buy the stake at market price, but Harbinger fund manager Phillip Falcone wanted him to pay a premium, according to the source.
Reuters – Hedge fund firm Harbinger Capital Partners LLC swung into the black with investors saying the flagship fund gained between 6 and 8 percent in the first quarter.
That is good news for the New York-based firm, run by Philip Falcone, and its clients after Harbinger Capital Partners Fund I lost roughly 28 percent last year.
Bloomberg – Philip Falcone, who runs the $7 billion Harbinger Capital Partners LLC, is starting a hedge fund that draws on his background in distressed securities, even as investors are locked into his biggest fund.
The Credit Distressed Blue Line Fund will buy troubled loans and bonds, and bet against higher-rated debt, the New York-based firm said in a March 16 letter to investors. The firm’s flagship $5 billion Harbinger Capital Partners Fund I limited withdrawals to 65 percent of its assets last year because of private-equity investments, which are harder to sell than publicly traded stocks.
Reuters – U.S. hedge fund Harbinger Capital is the first company to declare a short position in HSBC following the bank’s record rights issue, after making millions from a similar tactic with UK bank HBOS last year.
Harbinger said in a regulatory filing it has taken a 0.26 percent short position in HSBC’s London shares, worth about 110 million pounds. By 0910 GMT the shares were up 2.5 percent at 356 pence.
International Herald Tribune – U.S. hedge fund Harbinger Capital is the first company to declare a short position in HSBC following the bank’s record rights issue, after making millions from a similar tactic with UK bank HBOS last year.
Harbinger said in a regulatory filing it has taken a 0.26 percent short position in HSBC’s London shares, worth about 110 million pounds. By 9:10 a.m. the shares were up 2.5 percent at 356 pence.
Harbinger has also unveiled a series of short positions in Spanish banks in recent weeks, including a short position of 1 percent in BBVA and 0.4 percent in Santander.
TopNews - Fortescue Metals Group Ltd said Tuesday that Chinese steel maker Hunan Valin Iron and Steel will pay 558 million Australian dollars (357 million US dollars) for a 16.5-per-cent stake in the Australian iron ore miner.
Under what’s known as a stand-still agreement, Valin will undertake to hold no more than 17.5 per cent of Fortescue.
Valin will buy 225 million newly issued shares and buy 275 million Fortescue shares from US-based hedge fund Harbinger Capital.
Multichannel Online – Harbinger Capital, the hedge fund that caused a stir last year when it began buying large blocks of Cablevision Systems shares, continued a sell-off of the stock that began earlier this year, reducing its holdings in the Bethpage, N.Y.-based cable operator to 5%.
Harbinger, seen by many observers to be the main catalyst in Cablevision management’s newfound openness with shareholders, said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing late Tuesday that it had reduced its holdings in the cable operator to 11.7 million shares, or about 5% of its outstanding stock. That’s down from the 7.5% interest Harbinger held in Cablevision in January and almost half the 9.1% interest the hedge fund controlled in September.
