Daniel Loeb’s Third Point has raised $2.5 billion, according to a Wall Street Journal report, which says the money could be spent on “several new activist situations” that could arise before the end of the year. The New York–based firm raised the money over a roughly two-week period in the summer in what could be the largest single gathering of hedge fund assets since the 2008 stock market implosion. Although pundits predict the new capital will be used for new activist positions, keep in mind that the strategy historically accounts for a fraction of Loeb’s activities. What’s more, in the first half letter to investors, Loeb told clients corporate and structured credit investments led the way, beating their indices and peers by two to three times. However, the firm did presciently assert: “We believe that having dry powder on hand will be increasingly useful toward year’s end.” Through August, the Third Point Offshore Fund returned 6.4 percent. According to the WSJ, the new capital should boost the firm’s total assets to around $17.5 billion. The hedge fund firm received a total of $3.4 billion in investor requests and received the money from more than 150 investors, mostly existing clients, according to the report.
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Leon Cooperman’s Omega Overseas fund rose 1.71 percent in August, nearly doubling its gains for the year to 4 percent. It is managed by his New York–based firm Omega Advisors.
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The Renaissance Institutional Equities Fund moved into positive territory last month, gaining 1.76 percent in August. As a result it is up 1.13 percent for the year. The Renaissance Institutional Futures Fund gained 1.79 percent and is now up 6.42 percent, while the Renaissance Institutional Diversified Alpha fund, which has struggled since its March 1, 2012 launch, surged 2.92 percent in August, trimming its loss for the year to 0.46 percent. The funds are managed by East Setauket, New York–based Renaissance Technologies.
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John Paulson’s Paulson & Co. disclosed that it owns more than 61 million shares of Overseas Shipholding Group, or 19.35 percent of the total outstanding. This consists of more than 56 million shares of common stock and nearly 5 million shares that are issuable upon the exercise of warrants. New York–based Cyrus Capital Partners said it owns 18 percent of Overseas Shipholding, consisting of more than 49 million shares of common stock and more than 8 million shares issuable upon the exercise of warrants. Neither firm disclosed these holdings in their second-quarter 13F filings. Both firms checked the box on their 13G forms that indicates they may have held the stock for awhile, which is permitted for 13G filings. Overseas Shipholding Group operates a fleet of oil tankers.
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Alpha Strategic, an affiliate of Northill Capital, announced it made “a minority revenue share investment” in Premium Point Investments, an alternative asset manager focused on residential mortgage markets. Alpha specializes in making passive minority investments in asset management firms in either revenue share or structured equity form, according to its announcement, explaining that this enables firms to maintain their operational autonomy and independent culture. New York–based Premium Point manages $1.7 billion, specializing in relative value trading and fundamental credit investing in the residential mortgage markets. It was founded in 2008 by Anilesh Ahuja.
