Jim Chanos debates with Stephen Roach on China

Jim Chanos, the founder of Kynikos Associates, was on Bloomberg TV today to debate with Stephen Roach, a Yale University Senior Fellow, the future of the Chinese economy. They go back and forth on their debate on the Chinese economy and how it will grow going forward and whether or not they are making the transition from infrastructure growth to a growing middle class. Enjoy.

Corvex Capital's Presentation to CommonWealth

Corvex Capital Management, run by Keith Meister - a a onetime Carl Icahn protege who started activist fund Corvex Management LP. Announced today that he partnered with real estate investment firm Related Cos. to purchase 9.8% CommonWealth's existing shares to challenge the company’s plan to issue stock to pay off debt. They filed a 13D and a presentation outlining their plans. Meister and Blau not only want to thwart the issuance of new stock, they are also striving to overhaul the board and would even be willing to buy the company’s assets at a premium to its current market price, the filing shows. Corvex has been active of late, with Keith taking a seat on the board of the food company Ralcorp Holdings and once their agitating for a sale which resulted in ConAgra acquired Ralcorp last month for $5 billion. Last yearh joined the security business ADT's board of directors after taking a large stake in the company. Corvex has about $3B in AUM. In the presentation he outlines what he thinks is wrong with their current proposal and operations and then offers suggestions on how they can unlock additional value. Ultimately he thinks they could be worth $54 per share vs. their current trading price of $21.16 (note they have surged 35% since the filing of the 13D). Overall the presentation is well put together and Corvex is a group definetely worth following. Enjoy.

Related Companies' presentation on Commonwealth REIT by

Andreas Halvorsen interview at Milken Institute

Andreas Halvorsen the founder and leader of Viking Global was recently interviewed at the Milken Institute. For those not in the know, Andreas Halvorsen is one of the most successful Tiger cubs. Norwegian Halvorsen launched Viking Global at the end of 1999 with former Tiger employees David Ott and Brian Olson. Viking has done a tremendous job over the past few years and now has something like $16B in AUM. In the video he discusses his investment process and how he approaches portfolio construction. Enjoy.

Stanley Druckenmiller on CNBC

The legendary Stanley Druckenmiller was on CNBC today discussing the fiscal issues the country faces. He said that while this isn't really directing the market at present it will have a substantial impact on the market in the not too distant future. My favorite stat from his talk - a few years ago the U.S. had $10 trillion in debt, now we have $16 trillion and yet the cost to service the debt is now 20% lower than it was previously - this is not sustainable. Just think about that statement for a minute - it truly is staggering. Enjoy.

GMO Capital Q4 2012 Letter to Investors

GMO Capital today is out with their Q4 2012 Letter to Investors. Jeremy Grantham talks about investing in a low growth world. He then shares his thoughts on the Fed's policies and the dangers that low interest rates can pose. He then ends by saying he feels overall the market is starting to feel overpriced. Ben Inker also includes some thoughts on TIPS. Overall quite enjoyable.

GMO Capital Q4 2012 Letter by Wall Street Wanderlust

Graham & Doddsville Winter 2013

Columbia Business School is out with their latest issue of the Graham & Doddsville newsletter. In thi issue they interview JANA Partners founder Barry Rosenstein and Scott Ostfeld. They also have interviews with Frank Martin of Martin Capital Management, Daniel Krueger of Owl Creek Asset Management (he also teaches a class on Distressed Investing at Columbia) and Jon Friedland of Imici Capital (formerly Porter Orlin). As always its well worth the read. I am a little bummed they didnt talk much about the recent Investing Conference CSIMA hosted but I suspect that will be fodder for their Spring Issue which should come out in April. Enjoy.

Graham & Doddsville Winter 2013 by

David Einhorn on CNBC

David Einhorn was on CNBC this morning to discuss his proposal for Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL). He basically proposed to the company that they issue all common shareholders 4% preferred stock. He thinks that the preferred stock would pay a dividend annually and this is a quick way to create some substantial value for shareholders. Apple has been resitant to this proposal and has included in its annual proxy a proposal to abolish the ability to issue preferred stock. This proposal is straight out of their preferred stock proposal that they discussed about a year ago at Greenlight's annual meeting. David makes the argument that Apple is holding on to too much cash as a result of their depression mentality instilled by Steve Jobs. He also disclosed that he now owns more Apple shares than ever before, signaling that he has been a buyer in Q4 and Q1. He then goes on to discuss his short in Green Mountain (NASDAQ:GMCR)which he says he is still short and accused them of channel stuffing in the quarter. Despite the anchor's probing efforts he made no real comment on Herbalife other than to say he is not involved at this time. Enjoy.

Whitney Tilson's Kase Capital's 2012 Letter to Investors

Below please find Whitney Tilson's Kase Capital's 2012 letter to investors. In his first 6 months of operation since breaking apart T2 Partners, Tilson's KaseCapital returned -1.7%. In the letter he discusses his major positions as well as how he plans on running the fund. Enjoy.

toolson 2012 by

Bruce Berkowitz on Bloomberg

Bruce Berkowitz was on Bloomberg recently talking about his portfolio as well as hinting that he may be considering launching a more permanent vehicle with locked up money in a hedge fund / private equity structure. Overall its a fairly interesting interview. Enjoy.

Kyle Bass on CNBC

Kyle Bass was on CNBC today discussing his opinions on the stock market, inflation, and even Herbalife. Needless to say he is a believer that we are on the precipice of an inflationary environment and as a result the right strategy is to buy productive assets and multi-national companies that have productive products that deal in multiple currencies. He then goes on to briefly chat about the Herbalife situation saying he would never bet against Dan Loeb. Enjoy: