William Ackman led a group that shelled out $91.5 million for a duplex penthouse at the prestigious and pricey One57, a 90-story condominium tower overlooking Central Park, according to Bloomberg. The wire service reported that the buyer was listed as 57157 Co. LLC, which Bloomberg says is a single-purpose entity controlled by the head of hedge-fund firm, Pershing Square Capital Management. Ackman can certainly afford it. Last year the billionaire’s various funds were up between 36 percent and 40.4 percent. The apartment has 13,554 square feet and six bedrooms and is located on the 75th and 76th floors, according to the report, which notes that last year Ackman told the New York Times that it was “the Mona Lisa of apartments.”
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Paul Singer’s Elliott Advisors is locked in a new activist battle. This one involves Alliance Trust, a Dundee (U.K.) investment manager. The New York hedge fund firm, unhappy with Alliance Trust’s governance, is seeking shareholder support for three independent non-executive directors. “Recent public comments by a former director of the company about the lack of open debate in the board room has strengthened our view that added independence and a fresh perspective is needed to improve Alliance Trust,” Elliott said in a statement in late March, according to Reuters. In the latest salvo, Katherine Garrett-Cox, CEO of the trust, urged in a blog post that shareholders reject Elliott’s recommendations, said Reuters. “If Elliott is able to wield greater influence over Alliance Trust, it would pursue disruptive actions focused on allowing it to sell its shareholding quickly, actions which we do not believe are in the best interests of other shareholders,” Garrett-Cox reportedly wrote. “If you care about the future of the business in any shape or form, you have to vote,” she reportedly said in a video interview accompanying the post.
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The Barnegat Fund, a $681 million fixed-income, relative-value hedge fund, lost 3.7 percent in March. As a result, it was down 7.7 percent for the quarter. Currently, 67 percent of the fund “is held as excess collateral,” according to an investor. Barnegat says it usually aims to hold 40 percent to 60 percent of the fund in excess collateral.
