The Morning Brief: Porsche Beats Hedge Funds to the Finish Line

Some 30 hedge funds fell short in their appeal to overturn a prior ruling in which Porsche was cleared of hoarding Volkswagen shares, leading to outsize losses for the firms that had large short positions in the German auto maker. In upholding the decision, the court agreed that Porsche’s actions were “so predominantly foreign” so as not to fall under U.S. jurisdiction. Among those seeking financial retribution for the “massive short squeeze” include Paul Singer’s Elliott Management Corp. and David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital.

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Gold continues to glitter for several hedge fund firms, as seen in the latest round of quarterly filings, as the SPDR Gold Shares exchange-traded fund is up more than 7 percent on the year. Longtime goldbug John Paulson of Paulson & Co. maintained his position of more than 10 million shares, while former hedge fund manager George Soros’ firm Soros Fund Management upped its position in Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF to more than 2 million shares.

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James Dinan’s York Capital Management and Michael Platt’s BlueCrest Capital Management joined the Ally Financial hedge fund party, revealing in their latest quarterly filings that they had added more than 15.4 million and 2.5 million shares, respectively, of the former GM financial unit’s shares. It is the fourth largest position for both firms. While the filings provide only a glimpse into a portfolio, the two firms joins Third Point, Perry Capital, Canyon Capital Advisors, Oaktree Capital Management, D.E. Shaw & Co., CarVal Investors and others in the stock.

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