Mitch Julis, co-founder of Los Angeles-based Canyon Capital Advisors has listed his posh New York City apartment for $26 million, a whopping 152% more than he paid for it just four years ago.
The three bedroom, three-and-a-half bathroom condo is on the fourth floor of 15 Central Park West, one of the city’s swankiest buildings, the New York Observer reported. Masters of the universe in need of soothing can calm themselves in a Central Park-facing soaking tub while dinner cooks in the double wall oven and Brooks Brothers shirts tumble in the commercial-sized washer and dryer. Or buyers can invite neighbors, such as Third Point founder Dan Loeb, to a separate seventh-floor studio (included in the deal) for a light discussion of resume construction or the future of the Internet.
Julis, who cofounded $17.4 billion Canyon with Josh Friedman, said last year at the 2011 AR Symposium that investors should be humble about their ability to predict the future. He’ll certainly prove prescient if he gets his price, having bought into the Robert A.M. Stern-designed building above Columbus Circle for a relatively meager $10.3 billion in 2008.
Other famous residents of the building reportedly include Och-Ziff founder Dan Och, Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein, sportscaster Bob Costas, actor Denzel Washington and pop star Sting.
See also: Canyon Capital raises cash to meet redemptions
LAS VEGAS –The SALT Conference was abuzz Thursday about an attending hedge fund executive who is rumored to have turned as little as $300 in a blackjack bet into as much as $460,000 Wednesday night at the Bellagio. The person is said to have chartered a private flight home for him and friends after the big win.
Was it real? Three people who heard the story gave similar numbers for the final six-digit tally and confirmed it was at blackjack, but all weren't sure or wouldn't say who the person was or what firm he was with. They did say he was a senior employee of a hedge fund, and one person said it was a large managed futures shop. The manager named could not be confirmed. A spokesman for MGM Resorts International, owner of the Bellagio, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
The return figures, especially given the initial $300 bet cited, appear highly improbable, however, as even a perfect hand in blackjack, a natural 21, would only pay out 150% at the Bellagio tables. For $300 to turn into $460,000 could require more than 35 blackjacks for this single bettor in an extraordinary string of luck, and aces. A $10,000 initial bet cited by other attendees seemed more probably but the amount could not be confirmed.
Hedge fund managers tend to be risk takers, so it is no surprise that there was gambling during an industry conference in Las Vegas. But the apparent big win far surpassed the other stories circulating on the conference's second day full day.
Another manager, from a recently-launched hedge fund, turned $1,000 into $10,000 in 30 minutes at craps on Tuesday night, and had the cash in his suit breast pocket to prove it. "Don't worry," joked the manager, who requested anonymity. "I won't be charging myself two and twenty on it."
Another attendee is said to have lost so much money he flew home early, missing two days of the conference, although that story could not be confirmed. "I heard he just lost it really hard," said the person. "He had to leave right away."
Fittingly, the luncheon address Thursday came from Ben Mezrich, who spoke mostly of his 2002 book
Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. In 2008, the book was turned into the movie "
21" starring Kevin Spacey.
Generosity and gastronomy will mix May 9 when Marathon Asset Management COO Andrew Rabinowitz hosts a food and wine gala at New York’s Plaza Hotel to raise money for his charity, R Baby, which focuses on pediatric care.
Tickets range from $500 to $50,000 for the chance to nibble on noshes prepared by chefs from Aureole, Gramercy Tavern, David Burke Townhouse and the Four Seasons, among other temples of gastronomy. Wine will be organized by the master sommelier from Per Se. Look for Deron Williams of the New Jersey Nets and Michael Strahan of the New York Giants to be there.
Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio, fresh off a $3.9 billion payday, has pledged to match all contributions to the annual town party on the waterfront in his hometown of Greenwich, Connecticut.
Tickets to the Memorial Day weekend party, to be headlined by Paul Simon, go for $40 apiece for residents of the New York City suburb. But that price covers less than 25 percent of the cost of putting on the event, putting the fundraising onus on “local businesses and residents with greater means in the community,” according to a press release. The 5,000 tickets to this year’s event are already sold out.
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Kyle Bass (Photo: Bloomberg)
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Perhaps no one is as closely associated with pessimism on the Japanese economy as Kyle Bass. He’s talked up his short position—which he considers to be one of the most asymmetric bets in history—in Hayman Capital investor letters, at hedge fund conferences and on CNBC. Now his views have been immortalized in a Harvard Business School case study.
HBS professor Robin Greenwood led the study with help from the school’s Japan Research Center and published the 28 page case March 27. It focuses on Bass’ recent self-evaluation of his bearish views given seemingly contradictory government indicators.
“In late December 2011, Hayman Capital founder and portfolio manager Kyle Bass was reviewing Japanese government budget projections for 2012,” says a case summary. “The projections appeared contrary to Hayman Capital's views on Japan, where the fund had built a bearish position. Japan had the world's highest debt burden, whether expressed as a percentage of GDP or government revenue. Guided by recent global events, Bass forecast that Japan would soon experience increases in interest rates, a devaluation of the currency, and, eventually, a restructuring of the country's debt.”
In the end, Bass’ views are reinforced. “In many ways I hope we are wrong about Japan,” he is quoted as saying in the case. “I could easily be wrong about the whole thing, but I haven’t been persuaded yet.”
As Bass said this week in a keynote address at the EuroHedge Summit, the case study is perhaps the first ever written on an event that has not yet happened.
But Hayman is in the business of looking forward. HBS explained what could happen in Japan by quoting Ernest Hemingway’s description of going broke: “It occurs at first very slowly, then all at once.”
The full case study is here (purchase required)