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Bloomberg – Sanjiv Bhatia, a former head of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Asia equity trading desk, plans to start a hedge fund to trade securities of Asian companies whose valuations are affected by mergers, reorganizations and changes in structure.
Bhatia, who most recently ran the Asian investments of Deephaven Capital Management LLC, may start the fund on Dec. 1, he said in an interview Oct. 8, declining to give a fundraising size. It will seek annual returns in excess of 15 percent.
Reuters – Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson’s big stake in AngloGold Ashanti is a strand of his heavy exposure to gold and not designed to gain from the slim chance of a merger bid.
Before making billions of profits shorting mortgages and banks in 2007 and 2008, Paulson & Co bought and shorted stocks involved in mergers and other corporate events.
Yet mining giant AngloGold is out of bounds to all but its largest rivals as a takeover candidate, industry observers say, and Paulson’s 12 percent stake in the group can hardly be a bet its shares will rise on the back of a bid.
Bloomberg – Blackstone Group LP, the world’s biggest buyout company, canceled a plan to start a hedge fund that initially aimed to invest as much as $1 billion in Asian companies affected by events such as mergers and reorganizations.
Blackstone decided not to proceed with the Asian event- driven fund “after a review of the market environment and our strategic priorities globally,” New York-based Blackstone spokesman Peter Rose said in an e-mail. The fund was to be managed by Blackstone A.M.N. Advisors.
Most of about 17 A.M.N. team members, including Chief Investment Officer Aaron Nieman, left after the March decision, said four people familiar with the matter, declining to be identified because the information isn’t public. The rest have been transferred to other Blackstone departments, they said. Rose declined to comment on specific personnel.
Reuters UK – GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the world’s second-largest drugmaker, has agreed to buy privately owned U.S. skincare specialist Stiefel Laboratories Inc for up to $3.6 billion, the two companies said on Monday.
The acquisition is the latest in a string of deals in the drugs sector, but is significantly smaller than recent mega-mergers, reflecting the British-based group’s declared focus on bolt-on buys to diversify its business.
