Lions Gate admits fault over Icahn hostile bid in SEC pact (TheGlobeAndMail)
Lions Gate Entertainment Corp admitted on Thursday it failed to disclose to investors in 2010 the steps it took to thwart a hostile takeover bid by billionaire Carl Icahn, as part of a settlement with U.S. regulators. Lions Gate, which produces popular movies and television shows like The Hunger Games and Mad Men, also agreed to pay $7.5-million (U.S.) to settle the charges, the Securities and Exchange Commission said. It is the first time in about 30 years that the SEC has brought a case against a company that is the target of a hostile tender offer, the SEC’s enforcement director, Andrew Ceresney, said.
Hedge Funds’ Big Bet on Fannie and Freddie May End Up Worthless (Businessweek)
Almost six years after bad home loans crippled the economy, Perry Capital and other big hedge funds are battling the government over the future of mortgage companies Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC), which needed taxpayer bailouts to survive. If the investors prevail in the courts or in Congress, they could enjoy one of the biggest paydays in history. And Todd Westhus, who spearheaded Perry Capital’s purchase of Fannie and Freddie preferred shares when they were trading for pennies in 2010, could join the ranks of hedge fund legends George Soros and John Paulson.
Procter & Gamble’s High-Tech Quest for the Perfect Diaper (Businessweek)
The teal-colored room packed with 12 toddlers and an almost equal number of watchful grown-ups could be a day-care center anywhere in the U.S.—except for the men and women in lab coats with tubes of saline solution in hand. This is The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE:PG)‘s Discovery Center, a baby-care research lab just north of company headquarters in Cincinnati. Toddlers romp around pulling books and toys onto the floor and sometimes escape into the hallway. Researchers set the children on examining tables and use small hoses to inject saline solution at precise “pee points” in the diapers—which differ for boys and girls—to determine how absorbent they are.
‘Lost’s’ Maggie Grace to Co-Star in CBS’ Wall Street Drama (Mxdwn)
Grace has been tapped to co-star opposite Charlie Cox in the CBS’ untitled Wall Street drama where she will play a new hire at the hedge fund in the Charlie Cox starrer executive produced by John Cusack. Grace will co-star as Jaime, a smart, ambitious, savvy new hire with a conscience who serves as an in-house legal counsel for a hedge fund. Most recently, the actress, repped by UTA, Wishlab and Jackoway Tyerman, starred in Showtime’s Californication and will next be seen in features We’ll Never Have Paris and About Alex. The drama from Justified writers Taylor Elmore and Ben Cavell, is set in the world of Wall Street money and power and is based on an original story from Elmore, Cavell, Cusack and Kevin McCabe.
Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors buys 5.3 percent stake in Momenta (BizJournals)
Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, a Connecticut-based hedge fund that is changing its name after an insider trading scandal, disclosed in a federal filing today that it now owns a 5.6 percent stake in Cambridge biotech Momenta Pharmaceuticals. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, SAC reported that it recently bought 2.9 million million shares in the company. Two million are owned by SAC Capital Advisors, and 900,000 by a unit within that fund called CR Intrinsic Investors.
Showtime Orders Hedge Fund Pilot Called ‘Billions’ (NYTimes)
Showtime announced its first drama pilot order of the season Thursday, a project created by Andrew Ross Sorkin, the author and financial reporter for The New York Times. The show is called “Billions” and will follow the conflict – and occasional collusion — between a fictional United States attorney based in New York and a cadre of super-rich hedge fund managers. Mr. Sorkin, whose nonfiction book “Too Big to Fail” was turned into a movie for HBO, co-wrote the pilot for “Billions,” with two experienced screenwriters, Brian Koppelman and David Levien (“Ocean’s Thirteen” and “Rounders.”)
Great time to own private equity: Strategist (CNBC)