Daniel Loeb’s Third Point, the event-driven hedge fund managed by the New York firm of the same name, posted a 2.5 percent gain in November, bringing its gain for the first 11 months to 21.2 percent. The performance was reported by Third Point Reinsurance Ltd., whose investment account is managed by Third Point. In response to the investment results, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised its price target on Third Point Re to $16 to $15.50 to reflect an upward revision in its investment income estimate and quarterly earnings estimate. The investment bank also maintained its Market Perform rating.
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Starboard Value said it plans to launch a proxy fight against TriQuint Semiconductor. In a regulatory filing Monday, the New York-based activist hedge fund firm, which owns 7.9 percent of the maker of technology products for mobile devices, highlighted six individuals it plans to nominate, including Starboard co-founder and chief executive Jeffrey Smith. He currently sits on the boards of Quantum Corp. and Office Depot and has previously sat on the boards of more than a half dozen companies, including Regis Corp. In the filing, Starboard said it delivered a letter to TriQuint’s board of directors that reiterated its case for unlocking value, which it originally detailed in an October 29 letter. Starboard states the company is “deeply undervalued and that significant opportunities exist to unlock value based on actions within the control of management and the board.” Starboard added it is “seriously concerned” with TriQuint’s “prolonged underperformance under the direction of the current management team and board.”
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A new study by Preqin found that a large majority of large hedge fund firms have expanded their offerings to include what it calls non-traditional products such as long-only and liquid alternative strategies in order to meet new demand from institutional investors. Specifically, 81 percent of hedge fund managers with more than $5 billion in hedge fund assets under management have launched at least one of these non-traditional hedge fund products. In addition, the study reports that one-fifth of all managers who participated in its survey plan to launch at least one non-traditional hedge fund product over the next 12 months, while another 42 percent are considering it. Most of them are expanding their product offerings in response to client requests.
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Shares of Herbalife jumped more than 3 percent to $71.85. As a result, the multilevel marketer of nutrition supplements quietly closed at its highest price in two months.
