Funds-of-hedge-funds continue to outpace their single-manager peers. While the average fund-of-funds manager returned 0.33 percent in July, the average individual fund fell 0.31 percent for the month, according to London-based researcher Preqin. Macro funds of funds surged 1.74 percent in July, while funds of CTAs jumped 4.50 percent. For the year-to-date, the average fund of fund is up 5.19 percent, while funds of CTAs are up nearly 19 percent. The average single-manager fund is up 4.65 percent over the same period, and the best-performing single fund group consists of funds focused on Asia-Pacific, up 10.80 percent.
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Tiger Global Management has invested $15 million in Roposo, an India-based social network firm for fashion products. This is the New York investment firm’s second investment in the company in five months, having led a $5 million Series A funding back in March. Other participants in the earlier financing included Binny Bansal, co-founder and chief operating officer of Flipkart, one of the two largest positions in Tiger Global’s venture capital partnerships.
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Bank activist Lawrence Seidman, founder of Parsippany, New Jersey-based hedge fund firm Seidman & Associates, bought another 46,568 shares of Prudential Bancorp for $14.46 per share, bringing the firm’s stake to 7.81 percent. The Philadelphia-based holding company for Prudential Savings Bank has seven locations. Back in September 2014, Seidman settled with Prudential and its wholly owned subsidiary, Prudential Savings Bank, whereby businessman Dennis Pollack would be appointed to the company’s board of directors’ class that expires at the February 2016 annual meeting. Pollack, who was recommended by Seidman, will also be appointed to the board of the bank. Fun fact: At one point in his career, Pollack was chief operating officer at John Paulson’s New York–based hedge fund firm Paulson & Company.
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UBS cut its rating on Precision Castparts Corp. from Buy to Neutral and trimmed its price target on the stock from $244 to $235. Last week Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway agreed to acquire the maker of equipment for the aerospace and energy industries for $37.2 billion, including debt.
In its report to clients, UBS explains that it made the move because it thinks it is “unlikely” there will be a higher bid for the company. “While we view the acquisition price from Berkshire Hathaway as below our estimate of PCP’s intrinsic value, we see a low probability of a higher bid emerging,” it explains. “We believe that there are only a handful of companies that could accommodate a deal of this size where there’s also a strategic fit.”
Barry Rosenstein’s New York-based Jana Partners took an initial stake of 2.47 million shares of Precision Castparts in the second quarter, making it the activist’s eighth-largest individual stock holding.
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The Sohn Conference Foundation will hold its first investment conference in Tel Aviv on October 14. Among the speakers who have confirmed their attendance: Paul Singer, founder and president of Elliott Management Corp.; Daniel Schwartz, chief investment officer and a managing partner of York Capital Management; Raanan Agus, co-head of Goldman Sachs Investment Partners; and Shlomi Bracha, a founding partner and co-manager of Noked Capital, a well-respected hedge fund in Israel.
