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.
Daily Times – Less than three weeks ahead of what’s expected to be a heated proxy contest at Target’s annual shareholders’ meeting, activist shareholder William Ackman aims to strengthen his case to investors for a new slate of directors by personally introducing his roster at a town hall meeting here Monday.
According to documents filed Friday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ackman, who runs Pershing Square Capital Management, which owns a 7.8 percent stake in the discounter, intends to “improve Target’s board and consequently, help make Target a stronger, more profitable and more valuable company.”
News.com.au- Iron ore tycoon Andrew Forrest is under attack from international hedge funds in a co-ordinated short-selling blitz against his Fortescue Metals Group — a campaign that has caused the company’s stock, and the executive’s paper fortune, to slump by more than 37 per cent in just over a month.
The company’s broker, Southern Cross Equities, has sent a note to clients that leaves no doubt as to why it considers the stock has fallen: "FMG shares have been subject to an aggressive and co-ordinated shorting campaign from a high of $13.15."
The stock went as low as $7.91 on Tuesday but by Thursday had rebounded to a $8.70 close on a day of particularly heavy trading, with 45.5 million shares going through.
Independent- The man who made a personal $3.7bn (£1.85bn) fortune by predicting the credit crisis is hoping to make another killing by helping to prop up financial companies brought to the brink of ruin by the chaos in the debt markets.
John Paulson, who went from being an obscure Manhattan hedge fund manager to one of the financial world’s hottest properties last year, is raising a new fund that will invest in banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions as they rebuild their battered balance sheets.
Financial companies have written off more than $460bn since the collapse in the debt markets began last summer, and Mr Paulson believes that is barely one-third of the final total that will be lost. At a conference in Monaco last month, he said writedowns could ultimately reach $1.3 trillion.
Financial Times- John Paulson, the US hedge fund manager who made a fortune for his investors by anticipating the debacle in subprime mortgages, said on Wednesday it was too early to look for bargains in the financial sector and predicted the worst was yet to come for the UK housing market.
Mr Paulson, who founded Paulson & Co 14 years ago and has $33bn in funds under management, said he was “preparing to switch” to long positions on distressed mortgages and banks, but added that such a change could be months – or even a couple of years – away.
He said financial companies could wind up losing as much as $1,300bn in the credit crisis.
