You can thank David Tepper, in part, for the stock market’s strong showing on Monday. The Appaloosa Management founder made several bullish comments Monday morning on CNBC’s Squawk Box show, asserting there is not much downside in the markets. He also said publicly what he has been telling people privately for some time: Congress should end the preferential tax treatment for carried interest. “Get rid of this stupid carried interest," he said. “Enough with this.” More than a half dozen hedge fund managers have told me privately they also think there should not be preferential treatment for carried interest. You hear that, Congress?
Two more former hedge fund managers were found guilty of illegal insider trading. Anthony Chiasson, a co-founder of Level Global Investors, and Todd Newman, a former portfolio manager at Diamondback Capital Management, were found guilty Monday of all fraud and conspiracy charges related to trading in the stock of Dell and Nvidia. Reid Weingarten, a lawyer for Chiasson, said he plans to appeal. According to The New York Times, juries have convicted all 11 individuals who chose to go to trial since 2009. What’s more, 71 of 72 people charged by the federal government with insider trading have either pled guilty or been found guilty at trial. One other—former Moody’s analyst Deep Shah—is officially classified as a fugitive. <!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--> <!--[endif]-->
Paul Singer’s Elliott Management offered to acquire Compuware for $11 per share, or a total of $2.3 billion. The hedge fund, which owns 8 percent of the software company, said in a letter to the board of directors that it has “significant experience in the software sector.” Shares of the company surged 13 percent, to $10.76.
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Joho Capital, founded by Tiger Cub Robert Karr, reported owning a 5.26 percent stake in Yelp, the online review site for local businesses. It’s an interesting investment for Joho, which specializes in investing in Japan and other Eastern markets. The investment was made in a 13G filing, meaning it is intended to be passive.
Dean Backer has been named the new president of Hedge Funds Care, which raises funds and awareness for programs to prevent and treat child abuse. The Goldman Sachs partner is the firm’s global head of sales and capital introduction in the global securities services business.
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