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.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – New York hedge fund Elliott International’s quest to place two members of its team on the board of New Zealand-based Telecom has officially come to an end when they failed to win the bid at the annual shareholders meeting today.
Elliot had nominated Mark Tume and Mark Cross in August, after poor performance by Telecom prompted their desire to shake up the board in pursuit of higher returns.
"In our view, Telecom’s performance languishes behind that of other key telecommunications players in the international market, and we believe this is partly due to an unclear and outdated strategy. Shareholders and customers remain dissatisfied with Telecom’s progress," Portfolio Manager James Smith had said.
Elliot is well known in the states for taking over faltering companies and engaging in proxy battles with the intentions of restructuring.
In 2006, Elliot proposed that Telecom be split into two separate entities, with each company having its own listing on the stock exchange. Telecom Chairman Wayne Boyd came to his company’s defense, saying that a split was not in the best interest of the shareholders.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
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Wall Street Journal – Deutsche Börse AG’s supervisory board reaffirmed the stock-exchange operator’s business model Friday, defying activist hedge funds that had been seeking a change in strategy after this year’s steep fall in the company’s share price.
"The ongoing implementation and continuation of the existing strategy of the integrated business model including its further development [are] the best conditions to further increase value for all shareholders and customers of the group," Deutsche Börse said in a statement after an extraordinary supervisory board meeting.
The company has three main businesses: its Eurex derivatives arm, a share-trading platform called Xetra, and Clearstream, which handles post-trade processing.
Deutsche Börse shares rose 0.8% to €63.44 ($90.19) Friday. Its stock has fallen more than 50% this year.
The board meeting was convened after the company’s biggest investors — activist hedge funds The Children’s Investment Fund LLP and Atticus Capital LP, which together control 19% of votes in Deutsche Börse — joined forces to explore options for creating shareholder value at the company. The hedge funds haven’t presented any formal proposals.
West Palm Beach (HedgeCo.Net)- So far this summer, with only some slight exaggeration, Iraq could comparatively be portrayed as a stable, safe & secure place, according to the Fact Sheet for June 2008 for the Iraqi Babylon Fund.
Relative calmness characterized Babylon Fund’s performance in June, mainly trading sideway with a modest 0.6% performance in the red at closing. Most of the fund’s sectors, asset classes and portfolio holdings experienced calm waters, except for the internationally traded oil companies whose volatility increased significantly.
The overall portfolio strategy has allowed the Iraqi fund to stay in positive territory through the year, with a +1.7% performance on a YTD basis. In anticipation of increased riskadjusted returns on the medium-term we continue to add to our Iraqi
The Babylon Fund is an open-ended mutual fund investing into large-cap Iraqi-dependant securities, mainly listed on the Iraqi stock exchange in Baghdad, but also in other countries.
FINalternatives- Godvig Capital’s Iraq-focused Babylon Fund finished May up 2.7%, bringing its year-to-date gains to 5.2%.
The fund’s portfolio included stakes in hotels, banks and breweries last month, according to portfolio manager Björn Englund, who said he has been solicited to take on board seats but has refrained from doing so.
“Our board policy stays for now, but might have to change in the future,” he said.
Last month, Englund said he continued to slowly add to the portfolio’s Iraq Stock Exchange exposure because of the “sizable inflow” into the fund, and intends to soft close the fund later this year “should assets rise faster than our target.”
Black Enterprise- Naeem Holding, Egypt’s second-largest investment bank by market value, will start a 100 million Egyptian pound ($19 million) fund to buy stakes in firms planning public listings, its chief executive said on Wednesday [June 18].
The fund would buy stakes in up to eight companies in its first year ahead of their listing on Nilex, Egypt’s stock exchange for small and medium sized companies, Hany Tawfik told reporters. Naeem would finish raising money for the fund by mid-July, he said.
"The growth for small-cap funds generally outperforms other funds," Mr. Tawfik said.
Reuters) – Activist hedge fund Toscafund has raised its stake in Aberdeen Asset Management by around another 50 million pounds to more than 25 percent, continuing its rapid stake-building of recent months.
Toscafund, which is run by Martin Hughes, increased its holding to 25.49 percent on Wednesday from 20.02 percent, according to a statement to the Stock Exchange on Friday, having increased its stake marginally on Monday.
"Aberdeen is an excellent global asset manager covering nearly all product areas. We’re supportive of management and believe their prospects are very good," a Toscafund spokesperson said.
