OVER THE LAST FIVE TRADING SESSIONS, "Elliott" has acquired another 0.5% of the Proprietatea Fund (FP)

Over the last trading sessions, Manchester Securities, a company controlled by American hedge fund "Elliott Associates", has acquired over 73 million shares of the Proprietatea Fund (FP), representing over 0.5% of its share capital. Following these transactions, "Elliott" has come to hold over 16.5% of FP. The American fund, led by Paul Elliott Singer, is the biggest shareholder of the Proprietatea Fund.

On January 22nd, The National Securities Commission (CNVM) decided not to approve the changes which had been made to the contract for the management of the Proprietatea Fund, following the decision of the Management of the General Shareholder Meeting (AGA) of April 4th, 2012. At the time, shareholders approved the proposal of "Elliott Associates" for Franklin Templeton to receive an additional fee for speeding up the sale of the holdings in its portfolio. The fee would have amounted to 1.5% of the sales, in the 2012-2013 period, and it would drop to 1% after that.

• Paul Elliott Singer gave the performance of Ben Bernanke a D

Paul Elliott Singer gave the president of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, a D, for his handling of the monetary policy of the United States. Present at the hedge fund conference organized by Morgan Stanley, which was held a few days ago in Palm Beach, Florida, the investor was part of a panel which was asked to rate the achievements of the head of the FED so far. Whereas his colleagues on the panel gave Ben Bernanke A or B, Paul Singer opted for D, the lowest passing grade.

After last year, "Elliott Associates" convinced a court in Ghana to seize an Argentinean ship, because the Argentinean government needs to repay 1 billion dollars to several hedge funds which did not accept to participate in the restructuring of the country's debt, the fund managed by Paul Singer is currently in conflict with American oil company "Hess Corporation". "Elliott", which owns 4% of the company and intends to buy 800 million dollars worth of shares and to get seats on the board, has several proposals which should improve the activity of "Hess Corporation" quickly, including the election of five new members on the Board of Directors, the refocusing of the company, by dropping certain divisions and the instauration of "capital discipline". In order to promote its proposals, the hedge fund has set up an Internet website, called "Reassess Hess", where he says that the investment in the oil company represents the biggest initial capital investment in its history. "The size of this position reflects our conviction that, having the adequate oversight and guidance from the representatives of the shareholders, we can achieve extraordinary value. In this letter, we are presenting our thoughts concerning the manner in which the Board of Directors can generate value for shareholders, by reorienting the company. However, we maintain that all the billions wasted, all the operational failures, and the entire opacity stem from one core problem: the failure of the Board to oversee the management and to hold it responsible for over one decade of failures", "Elliott" says in its message.

The representatives of "Hess Corporation" have announced on Monday the closing of the last refinery which the company still owned and the sale of the oil terminals.