While some institutional investors are backing away from hedge funds, others are going all in. Three of New York City’s pension funds are looking to invest in as many as 15 single-manager hedge funds. The funds — the New York City Employees’ Retirement System, New York City Police Department and New York City Fire Department — are searching for event-driven funds, commodity trading advisers and global macro and relative value managers.
Leon Cooperman’s Omega Advisors reported in owns more than 12.4 million shares of the oil and natural gas company McMoRan Exploration, or 7.5 percent of the total outstanding shares. This is a 70 percent increase from its position at the end of the third quarter.
What was up with the stock of computer hard drive maker Seagate Technology? On Tuesday its shares surged more than 4 percent, to $29.36, on no apparent news. This is good for David Einhorn, whose Greenlight Capital owned more than 16 million shares at the end of the third quarter, making it the company’s fourth largest holder. It also was Greenlight’s third largest holding, behind Apple — of course — and General Motors.
Wells Fargo is the latest company to make a bet on the fund-of-funds business. Wells Fargo Asset Management said it bought a minority stake in The Rock Creek Group, which has about $7 billion in assets under management. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to reports, Wells bought 35 percent of Rock Creek and has an option to make a controlling investment over time.
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged another investment adviser with falsely telling clients it had “skin in the game.” The regulator said Aladdin Capital Management claimed it was investing alongside investors in two collateralized debt obligations and that this was a key element of its marketing. The firm runs several credit hedge funds and separately managed accounts.
As audiences enjoy another year watching “The Nutcracker” at the New York City Ballet, they can thank, in part, a cadre of hedge fund managers and/or their wives. Lisa Falcone, wife of Harbinger’s controversial founder Philip Falcone, is on the board of the New York City Ballet. At a recent “Nutcracker” event that raised $700,000, one of the chairmen was Amy Griffin, wife of Blue Ridge Capital’s John Griffin. The daughter of Zweig-DiMenna’s Joe DiMenna was a soldier in “The Nutcracker.” Meanwhile, Pershing Square Capital Management’s William Ackman and Kinga Lampert, wife of ESL Partners LP’s Edward Lampert, are on the board of American Friends of the Paris Opera & Ballet, while John Paulson’s wife, Jenny, and diMenna’s wife Diana will be chairmen of the School of American Ballet Winter Ball on March 11, 2013.
