RTR - Ex-Cheyne partner Massoud readies own hedge fund for Q3 launch- sources

(Reuters) - Former partner at hedge fund Cheyne Capital, Michel Massoud, is preparing to launch his own hedge fund in the third quarter of 2015, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Massoud, who co-managed Cheyne Capital's event driven hedge fund, is setting up Melqart Asset Management in London and will launch a similar fund, the sources said.

Event-driven funds look to profit from corporate events such as mergers and acquisitions.

Massoud, who left Cheyne in March 2014 after more than nine years at the firm, plans to launch with a start-up capital of about $100 million, the sources said.

(BFW) Former Cheyne Capital Partner Massoud Starting Own Fund: Reuters

Former Cheyne Capital Partner Massoud Starting Own Fund: Reuters
2015-04-02 15:15:40.933 GMT


By Joshua Fineman
(Bloomberg) -- Michel Massoud preparing to start hedge fund
in 3Q, Reuters said, citing 3 people familiar.
* Massoud managed Cheyne’s event driven fund
* New fund to be called Melqart Asset Mgmt; will be based in
London


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Joshua Fineman in New York at +1-212-617-8953 or
jfineman@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Arie Shapira at +1-212-617-1488 or
ashapira3@bloomberg.net

(BFW) O2 CEO Says European Phone Companies Needs More Consolidation

O2 CEO Says European Phone Companies Needs More Consolidation
2015-04-02 15:11:38.694 GMT


By Jim Silver and Amy Thomson
(Bloomberg) -- If Europe wants its mobile networks to be as
advanced as those in U.S., further wireless mergers are
necessary, CEO of Telefonica’s O2 unit, says in interview with
Bloomberg.
* European regulations need reforms to allow cross-border
mergers, which will support investment in new networks and
increasing wireless data use, Dunne said
* Bigger companies, like Telefonica and its peers with
operations in several countries, will then be in a
position to “roll up” some of the smaller operators
* “There’s a realization that you need in-country scale,
but you also need some European champions”
* “There’s a realization that you need in-country scale,
but you also need some European champions”</li></ul>
* NOTE: Telefonica agreed to sell its O2 unit in the U.K. to
Hutchison Whampoa for GBP10.25b last week
* “Scale is going to continue to be important and
increasingly important,” Dunne said, “we needed to be a
buyer or a seller”
* Dunne declined to comment on how a merged Three-O2 might
participate in cross-border deals

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jsilver@bloomberg.net;
Amy Thomson in London at +44-20-3525-0662 or
athomson6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Andrea Snyder at +1-202-624-1831 or
asnyder5@bloomberg.net
Jay Miller

(ZH) Is The US Already In A Recession?

Chart Of The Day: Is The US Already In A Recession?

A month ago, when looking at the latest Factory Orders numbers, we noticed something very disturbing: the annual rate of increase, or rather decrease, in factory orders dropped to -2.3%. The last two time this happened was in 2008, just after the failure of Lehman, and in 2001, just as the US was again entering a recession. In fact, if there is one reliable, false-negative proof indicator of key recessionary inflection points in the US economy, it is the annual change in Factory Orders.
Unfortunately for the econo-bulls, and the Fed's rate-hike prospects, moments ago the latest Factory Orders number came out, and it was not good.
Amusingly, on the surface it was actually a beat, rising by 0.2%, relative to the -0.4% expected. However, if one actually looks at the underlying number, February was still a miss, because the January print was revised substantially lower, from $470Bn to $467.5Bn, which means the 0.2% increase was really a0.4% decline relative to the pre-revised number.
What worse, however, is when one looks at the Factory Orders series on anannual basis. It is here that the sequential fudges become irrelevant, and here where it becomes obvious that, all else equal, the US is already in a recession.

And the long-term chart, courtesy of the St. Louis Fed

Finally, ignoring the annual rate of change, here is just the absolute unadjusted number. The message is very clear.

(UBS) IPR against Shire: A Storm in a Tea Cup?

IPR against Shire: A Storm in a Tea Cup?

* Hayman Capital targets Shire Lialda and Gattex with Inter Partes Review
Hayman Capital via the Coalition for Affordable Drugs II LLC filed a petition for Inter
against Shire claiming that Lialda patent '720, which expires on June 8th 2020, was
obvious and should not have been granted in the first place. We also understand that
Hayman Capital could have filed a second petition for IPR against patent Gattex patent
US 7056886 B2 which expires in 2019 (source: http://traderszone.net/).

* A storm in a tea cup? Update expected in 6 months & decision in 2.5 years
Although we cannot rule out that the Patent Office could accept the Inter Partes
Petitions and start an Inter Partes Review (please get in touch if you want to get an
update as to how IPR works) in 6 months; even if they do, we would not expect a final
decision before Q3'17 at the earliest (when taking into account the potential decision
appeals). Should Shire lose the IPR on Lialda that would mean potential generic
competition in late 2017 instead of mid 2020. For Gattex, since the drug is protected
by an Exclusivity Period until 2019 and by a formulation patent until 2022, even if Shire
were to lose a potential IPR, this would have only a small impact on Gattex we believe.

* 4-5% impact on valuation for Lialda and 5-6% for Gattex
Should Lialda generic come in 2017 rather than 2020, and Gattex sales start declining
25% each year from 2019, this would impact our valuation by 11% in total, all else
remaining equal. We consequently believe that, even in a worst-case scenario, the
downside risk on valuation is not significant. We are surprised, however, that Hayman
Capital is challenging Shire as the expected return appears limited to us. Indeed, we
argue that challenging companies using IPR only makes sense if one expects a
potentially significant impact on valuation, as was the case when Hayman challenged
Acorda's Ampyra. However, we believe Hayman targeting Shire might suggest a lack of
more important alternatives.

* Valuation: DCF-based model and NPV models
We value Shire using a DCF-based model for the current business and value each of the
pipeline opportunities using probability weighted NPV models.