The Morning Brief: Third Point Notches Gain in June

Daniel Loeb’s Third Point Offshore fund, managed by his New York-based firm Third Point, posted a 0.80 percent gain in June. It is now up 2.1 percent for the year to date. During the same period, the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index is up 3.8 percent.

Gains in June came from the firm’s credit book, which posted a 1 percent gain. Its long-short equity book lost a scant 10 basis points — or 0.10 percent — due to a small loss among its long holdings. Entering July, Third Point trimmed its net long exposure in its long-short book, to 42.9 percent from 45.9 percent. Most of the difference is due to an increase in its short exposure. Third Point slightly trimmed its net exposure in its credit book to 34.7 percent.

___

More woes at Leon Cooperman’s Omega Advisors. Total assets under management declined last month by more than 5 percent, to $4.9 billion, according to the New York hedge fund firm’s website. Most of the decline was performance-related, according to a person with knowledge of the firm. Omega’s funds are down between 4 percent and 6 percent so far this year. At the end of the first quarter, Omega’s five largest individual U.S. equity long holdings were: Internet giant and Google parent Alphabet; First Data, the global payments company; insurance giant American International Group; aircraft-leasing company AerCap Holdings; and Navient Corp., which services student loans.

___

One Omega holding that took a big beating on Tuesday was Altisource Portfolio Solutions. Shares of the provider of mortgage, financial and technology services for the real estate and mortgage industries fell more than 11 percent. At the end of the first quarter Omega owned 9.12 percent of the shares, making it the company’s second-largest shareholder. However, it did not rank among Omega’s 25 largest long holdings. Michael Hintze’s London-based CQS is also one of the top-ten holders of Altisource.

___

Chris Levett has left Moore Capital Management for the second time. The commodities specialist is one of three executives to leave the macro giant headed by Louis Bacon, according to Bloomberg. The other two are Austin Brown and Michael Lawson.

Levett previously left Moore in 2007 to launch Clive Capital. At Moore he had generated a 39 percent return in 2004, 47 percent in 2005 and 31 percent in 2006. Levett made his sole appearance on Alpha’s Rich List in 2009, after earning $85 million the previous year, when his fund soared 44 percent by trading everything from energy and metals to grains and vegetable oils. He managed as much as $5.1 billion in 2011. However, he shut down Clive in 2013 after losing money for three straight years. Levett rejoined Moore in September 2014.

___

Viking Global Investors nearly doubled its stake in Calpine Corp. to 20.54 million shares, or 5.7 of the giant electric utility’s shares. The filing, dated June 23, was made in a 13G, suggesting it is a passive investment for the Greenwich, Connecticut-based Tiger Cub.

Related