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.
Reuters – Hedge fund firm Paulson & Co, which earned billions with savvy bets during the credit crisis, has doubled its stake in candy maker Cadbury Plc, according to a regulatory filing released on Tuesday.
The New York-based hedge fund now owns 28.5 million shares, or 2.08 percent, of Cadbury after it bought 14.8 million shares for 759.59 pence, the British regulatory filing shows.
Paulson’s founder, John Paulson ranks as one of the $1.5 trillion hedge fund industry’s best traders and cemented his reputation by defying conventional wisdom with bets U.S. housing prices could fall on a national scale. With that bet, Paulson became the industry’s highest-paid manager by earning more than $3 billion in 2007.
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.
Forbes – British hedge fund manager Man Group on Friday said it had agreed to sell its remaining stake in futures and options broker MF Global to Japanese bank Nomura.
Man, the world’s biggest listed hedge fund manager, said it will get initial proceeds of $112 million from the sale, while its regulatory capital will rise by $90 million.
New York Times Blogs – Selling a controlling stake in Phibro won’t cut it for Citigroup, Breakingviews writes.
Sure, it would probably quell some of the uproar around the flashpoint that put Citi’s full ownership of Phibro, a commodities trading unit, under public scrutiny: the $100 million bonus due to Phibro’s boss, Andrew J. Hall, this year. But the debate has since moved on to whether such a venture belongs in Citi’s portfolio of businesses at all. That is hard for the bank to justify.
Barron – Shares of auctioneer Sotheby’s have rebounded on hopes for a recovery in the art market, although the economic picture is still difficult to frame. However, although investors have bid up the shares in recent months, the stock still has new buyers.
On June 18 Atticus Capital disclosed that it now owns 3.6 million shares, or a 5.4% stake in Sotheby’s. At the end of the first quarter, the hedge fund showed no holdings in the company.
Bloomberg – China Investment Corp., the nation’s $200 billion sovereign wealth fund, may invest as much as $500 million in hedge funds including those run by Blackstone Group LP, said two people familiar with the matter.
CIC aims to allocate $6 billion to hedge funds by the end of 2009, company adviser Felix Chee said two days ago at the GAIM International hedge fund conference at Monaco’s Grimaldi Forum. Chee, who is a special adviser to the chief investment officer of CIC, said he will initially run CIC’s hedge fund and proprietary trading effort.
The move adds to signs of improved confidence by CIC Chairman Lou Jiwei, who said in December that he didn’t “dare to invest in financial institutions” after losing money on investments in Blackstone and Morgan Stanley. CIC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley earlier this month by buying an additional $1.2 billion shares.
Barrons – A big question surrounding BlackRock’s $13.5 billion purchase of Barclays Global Investors, including its iShares exchange-traded-funds business, is how effectively a passive management group can work with an active one.
The combined firm will have more than 9,000 employees in 24 countries. Barclays will retain a 19.9% stake in the firm, which will manage a combined total of $2.7 trillion in assets.
"For two large, successful asset managers, it’s never an easy task to integrate," says Charles Rauch, analyst at Standard & Poor’s, which lowered its long-term credit rating on BlackRock a notch, to single-A-plus, citing "real" integration risk, among other things. However, some of the risk is mitigated by the fact that BlackRock and BGI have few overlapping operations, he adds.
The Guardian – Hedge fund manager Man has moved to the top of the FTSE 100 risers, as traders heard talk it may dispose of its remaining stake in broker MF Global.
Man spun off the brokerage in July 2007 by means of a flotation in the US, but retained an 18.5% stake, worth around $130m. The suggestion it might now be looking to sell this has helped send Man shares 17.5p higher to 283.25p. In its latest annual report it classifies the residual MF shareholding as "available-for-sale financial assets."
VC Circle – Flower exporter Karuturi Global is raising Rs 290 crore from its promoter Ramakrishna Karuturi and a consortium of foreign institutional investors (FIIs). Both promoter and FIIs are together subscribing 241.5 million warrants of Rs 12 each, which would converted into one equity share. A group of four FIIs, which include hedge fund Monsoon Capital, are pumping in Rs 248.64 crore in the firm. The rest is being invested by the promoter, Ramakrishna Karuturi. The company is now seeking shareholders approval through a postal ballot.
The four FIIs investing in Karuturi will together hold a 29.82% stake in the post-issued capital. They include Emerging India Focus Fund (8.64%), India Focus Cardinal Fund (14.4%), Elara India Opportunities (3.91%) and Monsoon Capital (2.87%). The warrants can be converted within 18 months, and an amount Rs 3 per warrant would have to paid at the time of warrant allotment. The rest of the amount of Rs 9 would be paid when subscribing each equity share, which would have a lock-in of one year.
Financial Post – Barclays PLC, the U.K.’s third-largest bank, is in talks with BlackRock Inc. and other bidders to sell its asset management division for more than US$10-billion.
BlackRock, the world’s biggest publicly traded asset manager, is the leading contender to buy Barclays Global Investors, people familiar with the situation said June 6. London-based Barclays has also held talks about selling BGI to Bank of New York Mellon Corp, the people added. The bank is seeking more than US$12-billion for the unit, and may keep a 20% stake in the merged company, one of the people said.
Retaining a stake "is an intelligent way to structure the deal," said Danny Clarke, a Liverpool-based analyst at Capital Group PLC, who has a "hold" rating on Barclays. "It strikes a balance between short and long-term goals, boosting capital and retaining some earnings."
Belfast Telegraph – Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct International has offloaded its 4.8% directly-owned stake in struggling rival JJB Sports, it was revealed today.
Speculation was mounting over the identity of the buyer after the Sports World parent sold 11.9 million ordinary shares.
But it is thought that Mr Ashley – also the owner of recently relegated Newcastle Football Club – still holds further JJB shares through contracts for difference, which are a type of derivative.
Businessandleadership.com – Just a year and a half after Microsoft paid US$240m for a 1.6pc stake in social-networking player Facebook, a Russian technology investor has paid US$200m for a 1.9pc stake in the company.
The Microsoft investment in September 2007 valued Facebook at US$15bn, while the latest investment from Russian investment group Digital Sky Technologies (DST) values the company at around US$10bn.
The Russian investment group founded in 2005 said it is even considering buying a further US$100m worth of shares in Facebook from existing investors.
