Unstructured Finance

Something must be in the water over at 399 Park Avenue, where Daniel Loeb’s hedge fund Third Point is headquartered. His Third Point Ultra fund has already gained 12.42 percent this year through the 13th of March, according to data from HSBC’s Private Bank.

The portfolio added 3.3 percent alone between March 1 and March 13. By comparison, hedge funds have returned about 4 percent year-to-date, according to HSBC.

The roughly $1.7 billion Ultra portfolio is a levered version of the firm’s flagship Offshore fund, which manages about $5.7 billion and has gained 8.5 percent over the same period.

It will be more useful to check in again at the end of the month to see where Ultra’s returns are but we thought the gains were worth pointing out because the fund is among the Top 10 performers in HSBC’s HedgeWeekly report again after finishing in the Top 10 last year.

Ultra rose 34.5 percent in 2012, far outpacing most hedge funds, which on average gained about 6 percent. Loeb’s success in 2012 was perhaps more impressive given the fact most of the funds that really stormed home last year were credit-focused funds, which made a ton of money as bonds of every kind rose in value through the year.

Daniel Loeb, who runs $8.7 billion at his hedge fund Third Point, has been an opportunistic buyer in the bonds of Chesapeake Energy, the embattled natural gas producer, according to sources familiar with the matter.

But Loeb, known to rattle the cages of companies for years (see: war with Yahoo), isn’t piggybacking on Carl Icahn’s or O. Mason Hawkins’s activist role in Chesapeake, demanding changes in management or the overhaul of its business practices.  Indeed, all the elements are there for a veteran agitator like Loeb, as Chesapeake has been embroiled in scandal over a controversial investment program involving CEO Aubrey McClendon.

But the New York-based hedge fund manager, who told his investors in June that Chesapeake is now his fund’s fourth largest position, could simply be making a straight investment play and leaving the rest to Icahn and Hawkins. Imagine that?

By Matthew Goldstein

Is hedge fund manager Dan Loeb considering planting his Third Point flag somewhere in Asia?

A person close to the New York-based fund says Loeb has no plans to open an outpost in Asia. But investors familiar with Third Point are fueling speculation that Loeb may be considering doing that at some future time.

The speculation about Loeb’s interest in Asia may be the result of a two-week tour Loeb took of China and Hong Kong earlier this spring. The visit was part vacation/part educational for Loeb.