market folly

Hedge Fund Tudor BVI Global Eyes Sustainable Development & Africa

As always, we're continuing our tracking series where we are looking at positions prominent hedge funds hold in UK markets. If you've missed some of our previous posts, make sure you check out the positions of Harbinger Capital Partners, Stephen Mandel's Lone Pine Capital, and Citadel's positions too. If you're unfamiliar with our new series tracking UK positions, check out our preface here. Today, we're covering Paul Tudor Jones' hedge fund Tudor Investment Corp. The positions listed below are taken from their main BVI Global Fund. Keep in mind that tracking Tudor is a bit trickier since they are a global macro fund and can trade all asset classes under the sun. Not to mention, they typically move in and out of positions much faster than the majority of funds we track on the blog in our hedge fund portfolio tracking series. We've already covered one global macro fund's UK positions as we previously examined Louis Bacon's Moore Capital Management. We find it prudent to track global macro funds to see if we can get a glimpse as to what sectors they are flocking to or what macro themes they may be playing. In reviewing Tudor's UK positions, two themes standout: sustainable development and Africa.

Tudor bought into the African Opportunity Fund (AOF) through a tender offer held in May of this year. AOF is an interesting fund as its objective is to earn capital growth and income through value, arbitrage, and special situation investments in the continent of Africa. Earlier in the year, the managers were focused on investing in companies with minimal debt and little need to access the capital markets with a particular emphasis on goods and services in short supply in Africa.

The managers, Francis Daniels and Robert Knapp, adopt a deep value approach and sprinkle their annual reports with quotes from Graham and Dodd and Warren Buffett. In June the portfolio was invested: 50% equities, 40% debt equity and 10% cash. The fund pays a dividend yield of 4.8% and in September of this year the fund was trading at a discount to net asset value of approximately -14%. As of June 2009, the two fund managers collectively owned over 23% of the issued stock.

One drawback for potential investors is that AOF is listed on AIM. While it is denominated in US Dollars, it clears through Euronext which will make it hard to trade through many brokers. It’s an offshore fund that is incorporated in the Cayman Islands. One of the portfolio managers, Robert Knapp, is also the managing director of Ironsides which runs a managed account for Millennium Partners, a multi-billion dollar hedge fund based in New York City.

Taken from Google Finance - Camco International Limited is engaged in identifying and developing greenhouse gas emission reduction projects, and providing carbon and sustainable development consultancy services, including emissions assessment, carbon management and strategy and policy work. The Company is a climate change business in the carbon and sustainable development markets. It offers a range of carbon-related services to public and private organizations worldwide. Among its clients are the World Bank, the European Commission, Land Rover, BP and industrial, power and utilities companies throughout China and Russia. On April 30, 2007, the Company acquired ESD Partners Ltd., the holding company for the Energy for Sustainable Development Group of companies (together ESD), which is engaged in the provision of consulting services in the field of climate change science and technology. On May 10, 2007, it acquired Bradshaw Consulting Limited. In May 2008, the Company acquired ClearWorld Energy Ventures Limited.

Modern Water Plc is a United Kingdom-based company. The principal activities of the Company is sourcing, developing and deploying technology-based solutions for fresh water and treatment of wastewater. The Company’s has 53% interest in its subsidiaries include Cymtox Limited. The Company also has 45% interest in joint venture, AguaCure Limited.