Barry Rosenstein’s Jana Partners posted a 1.3 percent loss in July, trimming its gain for the year to 4 percent. It is unclear how much the New York–based hedge fund firm was affected by Thursday’s huge market selloff. The firm’s Jana Nirvana fund, which typically maintains higher exposures than its Jana Partners fund, dropped 1.7 percent in July. But it is still up 6.2 percent for the year, better than the 5.7 percent return for the S&P 500.
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Jeffrey Ubben’s ValueAct Capital Partners has announced what could be a new activist position. The San Francisco–based hedge fund firm said in a regulatory filing that it owns 9.2 million shares of Armstrong World Industries, or 16.8 percent of the total outstanding shares overall. Armstrong makes flooring and ceiling products.
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A fund-of-funds firm that completed its redemption from Eric Mindich’s Eton Park Capital Management in the second quarter tells clients it has been reducing its stake in the hedge fund firm for several years “due to overlapping exposures with other underlying managers.” However, it also cites “a heightened level of turnover among the investment team” as well as performance results that have lagged its expectations in recent years. “Strong performance among some of Eton Park’s strategies, such as long/short equity, was partially offset by weak results in others, such as emerging markets and legacy private investments,” it explains. The fund-of-funds firm adds that it prefers its investments in a combination of specialist and single-strategy managers “over an allocation to Eton Park’s multi-strategy approach.”
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Martin Hughes’ London-based Toscafund Asset Management announced it is opening a U.S. office in Greenwich, Connecticut.
