Atticus Closes Flagship Fund (FT)
Atticus Capital's Barakett is stepping down from his role as Manager of the fund, which has roughly 3.5B in assets. FT says his decision was "purely personal" and had nothing to do with the fact that the fund was off its high water mark.
DiPascali Admits To Madoff Fraud, Judge Denies Bail (NYT)
Frank DiPascali, the Queens kid, pled guilty to 10 counts of fraud and admitted to knowing the whole thing was a sham from the beginning. He detailed for the judge how he and the big M created wire transfers from the London to the NY office to make it look like they were earning commissions, and how they created fake account statements. Judge Sullivan ended up pulling the plug on DiPascali's bail though, claiming that the cash involved vs. the 125 years he was facing amounted to little more than an honor system.
Ackman Easing Interest In Target (NYPost)
Shortly after Ackman's attempt to upend Target's board it looks like the Manager may have started dumping his positions; his exposure has dropped from 7.8% to 4.4%.
JP Morgan Looking To sell 23 Office Properties (WSJ)
On the list: One Chase Manhattan Plaza, and Four New York Plaza, as well as the former WaMu headquarters in downtown Seattle. All in all it will include 7.1MM square feet of space.
HSBC Lays Off 90 in UAE (B24-7.ae)
This is dangerous for several reasons, not the least of which is the debtor's prison the UAE still boasts. Hopefully the company got word to the employees in ample time, if not, Godspeed.
FSA Rules To Reign In Bonuses (Bloomberg)
The FSA has moved to kill banking in the U.K. as the combination of higher taxes and death to bonuses will surely send top talent off shore.
ING Profitable After Three Quarters (NYT)
Looking to show up their Swiss three letter counterpart, the Dutch bank posted a profit of $100MM. Sure, it was down a couple of billion from the year before, and still missed analyst estimates by some two hundred million, but they beat UBS, damnit. That counts for something.
China Arrests Rio Employees (FT)
"Chinese prosecutors have formally arrested four Rio Tinto employees on suspicion of obtaining trade secrets and commercial bribery, making it more likely the highly-politicised case will be brought to trial."
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2009 7:51AM
Rise and shine biotches.
-Fo Shizzle
Posted by wcburrs87 , Aug 12, 2009 8:04AM
Goodbye, Cananry Wharf.
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2009 8:05AM
Debtor's prison is a figment of some warped foreigners imagination. After stealing from the friendly Arabs and getting caught these foreigners make up these fake 'straw men' prisons to curry sympathy.
Even NYT is in on the act:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/world/middleeast/12dubai.html?_r=1
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2009 8:10AM
You smell that? Do you smell that? mining employees, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of executed mining employees in the morning... it smells... it smells like victory.
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2009 8:17AM
Finally got the Atticus and Madoff stories up. Keep up the good work.
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2009 8:27AM
You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
Bess Levin is coming to town
She's making a list
And checking it twice;
Gonna find out Who's naughty and nice
Bess Levin is coming to town
She sees you when you're sleeping
She knows when you're awake
She knows if you've been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!
O! You better watch out!
You better not cry
Better not pout
I'm telling you why
Bess Levin is coming to town
Bess Levin is coming to town
(In the spirit of the new national holiday - the return of Bess tomorrow).
BlackPoint
Posted by wcburrs87 , Aug 12, 2009 8:27AM
Tinto story already out dated...
Posted by american bandersnatch , Aug 12, 2009 8:49AM
@ wcburrs
Yes, but I was expected more of lyrics to the Elton John song, not just the title.
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2009 9:04AM
@3
The Arabs are not really friendly and foreigners are not really stealing. However, this is part of the NYT's attack on capitalism by means of criticizing what they believe to be the vanguard of capitalism: Dubai. The straw man is there, albeit, in a different construction.
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2009 9:15AM
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125003326578424053.html
Did Tim Barakett have too much skin in the game? Investors typically want hedge-fund managers to have heavy exposure to their own funds, thereby aligning incentives. But with Barakett, now winding up the two Atticus Capital funds he manages, there is a danger it may have backfired. One whisper from an informed source is that "Tim, as a large and more concentrated investor, may also have had a different view of risk from others."
Barakett had roughly $1 billion tied up in the $4 billion equity funds he managed -- the majority of his wealth. So, at the margin at least, there is the chance that at a time of extreme stock-market losses, it might have affected his timing on when to re-embrace risk in the funds he managed.
The flagship Atticus Global fund was heavily in cash during the darkest days of the financial crisis. And it is currently down 6% in 2009, even as global stock markets have rallied 19%
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2009 9:18AM
There is talent in banking?
Posted by Investorcluzo , Aug 12, 2009 9:24AM
roubini and taleb on cnbc together, what's wrong with that picture? btw, what's up with taleb and all of the "okays"
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2009 9:37AM
@10, obviously you are not an investor in HF's if you think that argument from WSJ holds water. Skin in the game is required. The more the better.
If a manager doesn't see any good prices, let them hold cash. They are more inclined to do so when it is their money in the game. At the end of the day, their track record is all they have. If they hold too much cash for too long (for a fund like this you can generally use the 13f), their performance reflects it. If they hold cash at the right time, once again it is reflected in performance.
There is no magic formula that says you want X% of a PM's net worth in the game. The more the better, put it all there.