New York-based Taconic Capital Advisors announced that two long-time principals are retiring, while four employees have been promoted to principal, according to Reuters, citing a letter the firm sent to clients. The two people who are leaving the firm are Joshua Miller, co-head of North American credit investments, who works from the firm’s New York office, and Kelly Hampaul, who invests in equities and credit positions from London.
Taconic, which has $8.7 billion under management, now has 13 principals, according to the report. The four who were promoted to principal include chief financial officer Alyssa Yavner, along with investment professionals Margaret Jones and Kyle Kliegerman, who specialize in event-driven stocks from New York, and Anthony Correa, a Hong Kong-based, Asian event-driven manager. On January 1, Kenneth Brody officially retired from the firm he co-founded in 1999 with Frank Brosens. The Taconic Opportunity fund is up 0.43 percent through the end of November, while The Taconic Capital Partners fund is up 2.4 percent through November, according to Reuters.
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Allison Transmission Holdings announced a “cooperation agreement” with San Francisco-based ValueAct Capital Partners, the $15 billion activist hedge fund headed by Jeffrey Ubben. Under the deal, ValueAct, which owns 10.77 percent of the company’s shares, has an option to appoint ValueAct partner Gregory Spivy to the board until 60 days prior to Allison’s 2016 annual meeting. This provision will become invalid if the hedge fund reduces its holding below 7.50 percent, according to a regulatory filing.
ValueAct also agreed to customary “standstill” provisions, including an agreement not to submit director nominations or shareholder proposals and will vote for Allison’s board nominees. In November 2013, ValueAct took an initial 9.9 percent stake in the maker of automatic transmissions for medium- and heavy-duty commercial vehicles, including trucks, mining equipment and buses.
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Tiger Global Management is one among several companies to participate in a recent $250 million financing for SurveyMonkey, a cloud-based online survey and questionnaire tool. It is at least the second investment made by the New York investment firm. Lee Fixel, a partner at Tiger Global and co-head of the firm’s private equity business, sits on SurveyMonkey’s board of directors.
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Third Point’s Daniel Loeb and his wife donated $15 million to The Mount Sinai Health System to create the Ronald M. Loeb Center for Alzheimer’s Disease, in memory of the New York hedge fund manager’s father, Ronald Loeb, according to an announcement from the hospital. The Loeb Center “will be a network of research programs, closely tied to clinical initiatives, across the Mount Sinai Health System,” according to the announcement.
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The Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index rose 1.50 percent in November, bringing its gain for the year to 4.12 percent. Managed futures have led the way, posting a gain of 7.50 percent in November and 16.42 percent for the year.
