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.
Alibaba News Channel – European companies emerging from the credit crisis should start looking over their shoulders: activist investors are set to return from hibernation, working more closely than ever with institutions to effect change.
The activists, who favour methods such as changing balance sheet structures, ousting chairmen or selling off non-core units, had little to do during the crisis when buyers were scarce and there was little appetite for transformatory change. But now they are set to gain from a political will to drive large institutional investors towards more active investment and away from a mentality of simply selling stocks they don’t like, while a purge of more leveraged, short-termist funds has cleared the ground for activists to tap a wealth of new opportunities.
"Pushed and shoved by the regulators, mainstream institutions are beginning to countenance interaction with activist investors," said a senior figure at one activist firm.
Reuters Tokyo – The yen dipped against higher-yielding currencies on Monday while the Australian dollar surged as leaders from Europe to the United States rushed out plans to shore up banks and stem the panic gripping investors.
After many stock markets suffered their worst weekly losses ever last week, leaders from Group of Seven industrialised nations set out a plan of action.
European officials offered to guarantee some bank debt and inject public funds into individual banks if necessary.
The United States said it would take stakes in banks in a first such move since the Great Depression, Australia guaranteed bank deposits and Britain was set to pump more than 40 billion pounds into its four biggest banks.
The flurry of initiatives to contain the worst financial crisis since the 1930s increased investor appetite for risk, though analysts were uncertain whether the improving mood would last very long.
Financial Times – US securities regulators were on Thursday night considering a ban on short selling as part of a group of new initiatives to restore calm to the stricken financial markets, people familiar with the situation said.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission was discussing a short-selling ban on some or all stocks and an announcement could come as early as Friday, these people said.
