Insiders

Lasry likes JCP debt, Hovnanaian stock

November 18, 2013 at 12:15 pm EST

MarketScreener.com By The editorial team

ANCHOR (OFF-CAMERA) ENGLISH SAYING:

One of your holdings is JC Penney debt, what's the investment thesis for you for holding that paper?

MARC LASRY, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, AVENUE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT (ENGLISH) SAYING:

I think for us our views has been that we believe they'll end up being a turnaround in JC Penney over the course of the next year. And as long as the company's able to do that, we believe that that's going to be worth par.

ANCHOR (OFF-CAMERA) ENGLISH SAYING:

And you like debt over equity?

MARC LASRY, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, AVENUE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT (ENGLISH) SAYING:

Yes that's mainly what we focus on.

ANCHOR (OFF-CAMERA) ENGLISH SAYING:

But you have some equity place here and there - housing is one area where you have a little bit equity and you see a turnaround there. You like hovnanian and MGIC - what is it about those companies that play into your thesis?

MARC LASRY, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, AVENUE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT (ENGLISH) SAYING:

Well those we ended up owning the debt and then we moved into the equity a little bit later on. But the main reason is we believe there has, you know that the housing market obviously has stabilized and that you'll end up continuing to have that upturn and we think those companies will end up benefiting from that. --

ANCHOR (OFF-CAMERA) ENGLISH SAYING:

Why those two?

MARC LASRY, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, AVENUE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT (ENGLISH) SAYING:

It's just - we know those companies really well, we got to know the management teams, we got to you know the companies through our debt investments. So that's what we have higher comfort level.

ANCHOR (OFF-CAMERA) ENGLISH SAYING:

This came up during the summit and that is I guess we could say hedge fund managers new found interest in the GSEs - Freddie, Fannie - not an area that you want to play in?

MARC LASRY, CHAIRMAN AND CEO, AVENUE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT (ENGLISH) SAYING:

Not right now, I think for us mainly, we think that's more of a political issue and it's kind of hard to analyze that. I can see why it'll work out, I can also see why it won't. I think for us today we'd rather make pure credit bets as opposed to sort of making a bit of a binary bet

Marc Lasry

Marc Lasry is an American billionaire hedge fund manager and co-founder and chief executive officer of hedge fund Avenue Capital Group.

Early life and Education
Lasry was born in Marrakech, Morocco. He and his family immigrated to the U.S. from Morocco when he was 7 and spoke no English. His father, Moise, was a computer programmer and his mother, Elise, was a schoolteacher. At night, his parents worked a second job selling Moroccan clothing to boutique stores.

Career
Mr. Lasry originally pursued a career in law, having clerked for the Honorable Edward Ryan, former Chief Bankruptcy Judge of the Southern District of New York and then having served as a specialist in bankruptcy law at Angel & Frankel.

Lasry began his career investing in distressed securities in the late 1980s. Lasry left Angel & Frankel for a job as the director of the private debt department at R.D. Smith (now Smith Vasillou Management). It was there he first got involved in trade claims. One year later, he went on to serve as Co-Director of the Bankruptcy and Corporate reorganization Department at Cowen & Company. At Cowen & Company, Mr. Lasry recruited his sister Sonia Gardner to join the firm to assist in the trade claims department.

Media speculation says that Lasry will be the next ambassador to France with the announcement coming in the next few weeks, during April 2013. This is due largely to his fund raising for Democratic candidates including both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Personal life
Lasry is married to Cathy Lasry and has five children, one of whom now works in the White House.
Lasry is a competitive athlete, especially in basketball and tennis.{{cite web|last=Schwartz|first=Nelson|title=Hedge Fund Places Faith in Euro Zo

Source @ Wikipedia

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Linked companies
Avenue Capital Mortgage Reit, Inc. Avenue Capital Mortgage Reit, Inc. Real Estate Investment TrustsFinance Avenue Capital Mortgage Reit, Inc. is a newly organized Maryland corporation formed primarily to invest in finance and manage residential mortgage assets, including jumbo mortgage loans and RMBS, as well as other mortgage-related assets. It invests in diversified portfolio comprised of its target assets that, when financed and hedged according to the company's business plan, is expected to produce attractive risk-adjusted returns across a variety of economic conditions and market cycles. The company was founded on May 23, 2011 and is headquartered in New York, NY.	Chairman
Avenue Capital Management II LP Avenue Capital Management II LP Investment ManagersFinance Avenue Capital Management II LP (Avenue US) is a SEC-registered investment advisor and hedge fund manager headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded by Marc Lasry and Sonia Gardner in 2000. They are a subsidiary of Avenue Management Holdco LP, ultimately held by GL Management LLC. Avenue US provides investment advisory services to private investment funds.	Chief Executive Officer

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