The Morning Brief: John Arnold’s New Mission; Glenview Capital’s Media Campaign

Retired hedge fund manager John Arnold is looking to join a movement to scale back pensions promised to government workers. The Houston-based billionaire, known for racking up very strong returns at his natural gas-oriented hedge fund firm Centaurus Advisors and trading while at Enron, wants to bankroll groups supporting ballot initiatives that would trim public employee pensions. The thought among these groups is that the pensions are too generous and are bankrupting governments. They obviously don’t focus on the fact that the employees took lower paying jobs in the first place and were already promised these deals. Arnold closed his hedge fund last year and, along with his wife Laura, devotes most of his time running a philanthropic foundation. He has also signed on to Warren Buffett’s and Bill Gates’ Giving Pledge.

---

Talk about self promotion. Glenview Capital’s Larry Robbins, who has generally stressed a no-publicity policy, unleashed a full-court media press Tuesday to make his case for a consent solicitation at hospital operator Health Managment Associates. The New York hedge fund manager, who runs more than $6 billion, even went to CNBC’s studio to discuss his plan for replacing the entire board of eight directors after firing off a lengthy press release through a PR firm.

---

Cantab Capital Partners has already lost 14 percent this month, according to reports. The Cambridge, England hedge fund firm, partially owned by Goldman Sachs Group, has taken a beating on its bonds and currency bets. Cantab was founded in 2006 by Ewan Kirk, a former Goldman Sachs partner, and manages $4.5 billion.

---

Alan Howard’s BH Macro fund is down 3.76 this month through June 21, slicing its full-year gains to 3.15 percent.

---

Herbalife halted a four-day slide, rebounding by more than 7 percent to close at $46.66.

---

Shares of Yahoo, up 70 percent since Third Point’s Daniel Loeb helped to recruit Marissa Mayer last July as its new CEO, rose nearly 4 percent Tuesday as shareholders assembled for its annual meeting.