Weekend edition: The naming of hedge funds
At Bronte we are in process of opening a Cayman Islands vehicle which will - we hope - eventually become the master fund.* There may be several feeders. We spent half an hour batting around names for the funds - then realized the solution is crowd-sour...
Electronic fax? Really. Doing the time-warp with J2Global.com
Efax is yesterday. You know the fax machine you have out there in the cloud where you receive a fax (with a dedicated line) and they send you the fax via email. And you send the fax via email - you post it to your electronic fax provider and they fax i...
Repost: My old notes on Northern Rock
This is a post I made fairly early in the history of the blog - and a post I think should have got more attention. (The original post had no comments and nobody much link to it.) I re-read it today (because it came up in conversation). I am kind of pro...
Risk management and sounding crazy
In early June Carson Block and his firm Muddy Waters research published a report which made outrageous sounding allegations against Sino Forest - then a highly respected Canadian listed Chinese forestry company that had borrowed well over $2 billion to...
The retail price of solar panels
I just googled "Trina Solar". Here is the Google results page (from Sydney, Australia).
Note the second advert which gives retail prices. AUD1.40 per watt for monocrystalline, $1.30 per watt for polycyrstalline. German modules.
The blended price fro...
Weekend edition: Hempton vs the Hurricane in a blow-off launch of "The Business"
The cooler Mr Hempton and the Nick Hempton band are launching their second CD "The Business" in New York on Saturday Night.
Smalls Jazz Club
183 W10th Street @7th Ave
New York, NY
7.30 - 10pmNot only is Nick better looking than me but he blows almos...
Bank of America: some comment on the Buffett deal
Warren Buffett got a sweetheart deal.
The deep discount on Warren Buffett's investment proves Bank of America was desperate.
All lines I have heard this morning. And I think they are mostly wrong.
Clearly the deal involves dilution - about 7 percent a...
Bank of America: time everyone took a long cold shower and sobered up
Forward: this was printed about four hours before Berkshire Hathaway took a $5 billion stake in Bank of America under sweetheart terms. Firstly Buffett got better terms than me - it helps being known as the world's greatest investor. Second, the rapid ...
Trina Solar conference call notes
Bronte Capital is both long and short Trina Solar. If Trina Solar shares wind up at $50 we make out like bandits.
If Trina Solar goes rapidly to $2 we also make out like bandits.
We don't like sideways: a share price of $12.50 - $18 is uncomfortable ...
Trina Solar’s very understanding banks…
Trina Solar is fast becoming a test-piece about just how understanding a Chinese bank can become.
They have just produced some pretty ordinary numbers (as pre-announced) but it the massive changes in their balance sheet that are really interesting.
...
Software eats part of the world
Marc Andreessen's WSJ article about software eating the world caused debate amongst my colleagues at Bronte Capital. It's a view that informs a fair bit of Bronte's portfolio.*
You see I wouldn't want to make guitar tuners.
After all there is a ...
The SEC should do a secondary suspension of Longtop Financial Technology
Puda Coal is a Chinese company already suspended by the Nasdaq and then relegated to the Pink Sheets. Whilst on the Pink Sheets unsupportable and probably false promotion material was circulated about them.
The SEC suspended them again - a secondary s...
