Phil Frohlich‘s Prescott Group Capital Management has requested a special meeting for the shareholders of PharmAthene, Inc. (NYSEMKT:PIP). After disclosing a 10% stake over a month ago and requesting a special meeting for November 1st, Prescott revoked their initial request and asked for another meeting on November 29th, proposing some different issues to be discussed.

The full letter is below:

Prescott Letter to Pharmathene

Disclosure: none

Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway, in a newly amended filing, reiterated their position in Media General, Inc. (NYSE:MEG), which amasses around 4.6 million shares, equal to 5.5% of Voting Common Stock. At the same time, Berkshire reported that its holding of class A shares has been reclassified and divided into 4,235,978 shares of a newly created class of Voting Common Stock and 410,242 shares of Non-Voting Common Stock.

Earlier this year, Media General entered into a merger agreement with New Young Broadcasting Holding Co., Inc., which led to the reclassification of Media General’s shares. Berkshire also stated that it might consider buying more shares of Voting Common Stock, and Non-voting Common Stock, “depending upon the performance of the Voting Common Stock in the market, market and general economic conditions, evaluation of alternative investments, price, availability of funds, and other factors, or may determine from time to time to sell some or all of its or their securities of MEG, based upon the same set of factors.”

Disclosure: none

Roumell Asset Management, led by Jim Roumell, continues selling shares of Transcept Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:TSPT). In a new filing, Roumell reported disposing 7,190 shares, reducing its exposure at the company to around 2.26 million shares. The fund sold the shares in three transactions, with the price being slightly above the $3.50 mark.

Disclosure: none

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Dialectic Capital Cuts Stake in Immersion Corporation

TPG Advisors Cuts Exposure at Armstrong World Industries

Jeff Ubben Helps to Recover Allison Transmission's Face Value

John Fichthorn‘s Dialectic Capital Management, in a newly amended filing, provided an update on its position in Immersion Corporation (NASDAQ:IMMR). The fund almost halved the holding to some 1.3 million shares, from around 2 million disclosed earlier. The activist stake now amasses 4.6% of Immersion’s outstanding common stock.

Disclosure: none

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Why Is Phil Frohlich Buying China Marine Food Group As It Delists From NYSE?

David Bonderman and James G. Coulter’s TPG Advisors decreased its position in Armstrong World Industries, Inc.(NYSE:AWI) to around 13.4 million shares, from 19.4 million disclosed in an earlier filing. Following the decline in the amount of shares, TPG Advisors now hold 24.8% of the company’s outstanding common stock.

Disclosure: none

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Jeff Ubben Helps to Recover Allison Transmission's Face Value

Why Is Phil Frohlich Buying China Marine Food Group As It Delists From NYSE?

Why John Paulson and Other Big Investors Are Betting on Extended Stay America's IPO

Jeffrey Ubben‘s hedge fund, ValueAct Capital, did not disclose holding shares of Allison Transmission Holdings Inc. (NYSE:ALSN) in its latest 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. However, recently, Mr. Ubben has submitted a new filing with the SEC disclosing the ownership of 18,025,204 shares of the company. The position achieved represents a 9.9% of the company’s outstanding common stock, placing ValueAct Capital as the hedge fund with the largest position amongst those we track.

The recent disclosure comes just days before the Allison Transmission announced the sale of 15 million shares of its common stock by investment funds affiliated with Onex Corp and The Carlyle Group. The sale is expected to close on November 15^th, while Allison Transmission will receive no proceeds, and the sponsors will continue to control a total of 111,892,500 shares, or approximately 61.4 percent of the company in question.

The move by Onex Corp and The Carlyle Group has been dubbed by some analysts as an insider bail out related to lower than expected performance, since Allison Transmission’s stock has underperformed in comparison with the S&P 500. Other analysts interpret the transaction as timely, pointing out that Onex Corp and The Carlyle Group will recover the initial investment and control over 50% of the firm.

In the end, the decision gives Ubben and ValueAct the opportunity to increase its stake in Allison. Most importantly, ValueAct’s recent disclosure is said to be timed to influence the transaction announced by the majority stakeholders. Interestingly, the disclosure had a positive impact on stock price, which rose by almost a dollar, recovering much of the loss registered at the end of October.

Disclosure: none

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Why Is Phil Frohlich Buying China Marine Food Group As It Delists From NYSE?

Why John Paulson and Other Big Investors Are Betting on Extended Stay America's IPO

How The Debt Ceiling Increase Helped The Majority of Hedge Funds

Phil Frohlich‘s Prescott Group Capital Management has been making our hedge fund news headlines for a couple of months now, mainly in account of its ‘bullishness’ on China Marine Food Group Ltd (NYSEMKT:CMFO), a seafood-based snack processor and distributor, and vendor of fresh and frozen marine products, as well as of algae-based soft drinks. Mr. Frohlich's fund currently holds 6,325,795 shares.

Prescott Group has been consistently increasing its stake in the company since late September, having made at least 6 purchases (on different dates, the last one yesterday) in the past couple of months. However, what's interesting about these purchases is that they started just a month before the company decided to "go dark" in late October -delisting from every exchange for "avoidance of costs and management's attention which are required in order to comply"- but also continued after this event.

All of these acquisitions were made at price points well below the stock’s 50-day and 200-day moving averages ($0.39 and $0.68, respectively), and at very low multiples in relation to the firm's sales and book-values, so upside potential is considerable. Actually, it seems like Prescott Group is loading up on the company’s stock and betting on the delisting ameliorating its performance and financial figures.

Like Pengfei Liu, China Marine Food Group's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated: "The consequences of remaining an SEC-reporting company, which includes significant costs and management time associated with regulatory compliance, outweighed the current benefits of being a NYSE MKT listed company." Apparently, Mr. Frohlich agrees with Mr. Liu in this matter.

However, another possible explanation for Prescott Group's course of action could be found. The fund could have also been betting on the Chinese company buying the outstanding stock from shareholders once it delists (voluntarily).  As it usually happens in such cases, the company will most likely pay a price premium on its shares.

One way or another, the purchases make sense for Prescott Group's portfolio, which is focused on small and mid-cap stocks, as China Marine Food Group's market cap doesn't even reach $10 million, although working capital surpasses $70 million. The fund has more than $450 million in assets under management, and has also recently disclosed a position at PharmAthene, Inc. (NYSEMKT:PIP), going quite activist (he requested a special shareholder meeting to discuss some particular issues).

Prescott’s significant position in the company makes it, by far, the largest hedge fund bull on China Marine Food Group. The only other "hedgie" –amongst the funds we track – that has bet on this company is Jim Simons' Renaissance Technologies, although its position is quite small (it doesn't even make up for 0.1% of its portfolio).

Back to China Marine Food Group, the company was eligible to deregister its common stock because it had fewer than 300 stockholders of record. Yesterday, Nov. 12^th, the stock traded at the New York Stock Exchange for the last time. Today, it started being sold on the OTC Pink Marketplace.

Disclosure: none

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Today, John Paulson‘s Paulson & Co. disclosed its holdings in Extended Stay America / ESH Hospitality (NYSE:STAY), the largest company-branded mid-price long-stay hotels owner and operator in the U.S. and Canada. The stock began trading on the NYSE this morning. Paulson declared holding 55,711,591 shares of the company, plus 7,036 shares of Series A Preferred stock.

Extended Stay America's shares surged about 16% on its debut and already trade at around $23.15, making Paulson's holdings worth roughly $1.3 billion. In addition to the increase that the stock price experienced today, the company raised $565 million in an initial public offering (IPO), selling 28.25 million shares at $20 each–well above its expectations of raising only $200 million. Given that the company sold about 14.1% of its shares in the IPO, its market value is somewhere close to $4 billion.

The bankrupt hotel chain was acquired in 2010, and held equally by The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX), Centerbridge Partners LP and Paulson & Co. Since that moment, they have invested about $626 million in renovations, which are close to completion. According to Bloomberg analyst Hui-yong Yu, the investors are seizing the opportunity provided by hotel stocks trading close to all-time highs and "a rebound in room rates and occupancies to extend the busiest year for real estate IPOs since 2004." Consequently, none of the aforementioned firms are known to have sold their stakes at the company, but are rather betting on its growth going forward.

According to the filing presented at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the proceeds from the IPO will be used to pay off debt, which currently reaches almost five times Extended Stay America's equity. By paying off debt, the company's CEO declared, Extended Stay America's balance sheet will be strengthened, and thus, the firm will be able to pay off dividends in the near future.

Back to John Paulson.

Famous for having made billions of dollars by shorting the mortgage market ahead of the financial crisis through investments in credit-default swaps, his investment in Extended Stay America still puzzles me. Although the company (and its stock) looks quite promising in terms of future profitability, margins and returns, this investor is known for specializing in small and emerging growth companies with capital needs of $5 million to $50 million.

And this, as we have already seen, is not the case here: not only did the fund spend more than $1 billion when it originally purchased a part of the company, but also it invested a couple of hundred million on renovations, later. Now holding about $1.3 billion in stock, this is one of Paulson's top 3 equity holdings, along with Sprint Corporation (NYSE:S) and SPDR Gold Trust (ETF) (NYSEARCA:GLD).

One way or another, we'll have to wait and see how this develops, but the outlook for this market share leader look quite encouraging.

Disclosure: none

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Over the last week, insiders at Ply Gem Holdings Inc (NYSE:PGEM) and KapStone Paper and Packaging Corp. (NYSE:KS), two basic materials companies, have been purchasing stock. Let’s take a closer look at these noteworthy transactions:

KapStone

The first acquisition occurred on Nov. 7th. H Matthew Paull, a Director at KapStone’s Board, added 3,000 shares to his holdings, which now amount to 12,893 shares, valued at approximately $663,000. He bought 2,800 shares at $48.44, and the remaining 200 at $48.43. He has already realized an upside of about 6%.

A few days later, on Nov. 12^th, J. Randy Nebel, Vice President and General Manager at KapStone, also bought 1,000 shares at a price of $50.9769 a piece. Following the reported transaction, Nebel directly owns 4,111 shares.

But, why are these insiders buying KapStone’s stock, if most (Tarbox, Keneally, Furer, Chapman) have been selling it over the year?

Well, the purchases follow several analyst upgrades, including a Zacks outperform rating and a boost of the stock’s price target by Deutsche Bank, BMO Capital Markets, KeyCorp and DA Davidson, amongst others. Also, a few days before the insider acquisitions, the company’s Longview Mill was recognized by the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) as a leader in sustainability.

All of these factors should help the stock to remain on the steep price uptrend that it has been experiencing for about one year now. In addition to the upgrades, recent strong financial results and promising prospects help us understand the bullishness. Offering industry leading margins and returns while trading substantially below its peers means in relation to earnings, this is certainly an attractive stock to consider for the long-term.

Moreover, 21 of the leading hedge funds that we track hold positions at KapStone, whith Richard Rubin’s Hawkeye Capital leading the bunch with more than 2.7 million shares.

Ply Gem

On Nov. 8^th, M Steven Lefkowitz, a Director at Ply Gem's Board, also acquired stock from the company he works at. He added 10,000 shares to his holdings at $14.63 apiece. These are the first shares directly owned by him, although he indirectly holds more than 45 million shares, by way of several Caxton-Iseman partnerships.

The company recently went public and has traded down since its IPO, having fallen by roughly 35%, mainly driven by the firm’s weak profit margins. This has provided very attractive entry points for investors who see the real potential behind this troubled (for now) stock.

Lefkowitz’s acquisition comes right after the company reported decent third quarter 2013 results on Nov 5th and since the purchase, the stock is up about 6%. Upside potential seems aplenty, and most analysts are setting the price target at $19 to $20 per share.

Disclosure: none

Peter Kolchinsky‘s, RA Capital Management solidified its position in Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACHN) even more today. This time, Ra Capital reported acquiring 1,795,000 shares of the company, raising its position to a total of around 22.3 million shares. The price paid by the fund amounts to $2.48 per share.

Disclosure: none

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Most profitable small businesses: When you say small business, you might think of a venture with a limited target audience and an equally limited profit. But you might be mistaken, as there are numerous small businesses out there that are actually immensely profitable.

We would like to present you with a list we have compiled of the top 12 most profitable small businesses, in a style similar to our coverage of the best large businesses.

These businesses were ranked using the statistics issued by Sageworks, a financial information corporation.

Let's take a look at the most profitable small businesses:

Most expensive classic cars: Even though we might not use a classic car to run our daily errands, these models have always been appreciated for their vintage look and distinct appeal. But apart from their classic look, antique cars also come with a pretty hefty price tag.

We would like to present you with a list of the most expensive classic cars in the world, in a style similar to our coverage of the cars with the best gas milage.

The list includes cars which were sold at auctions and all prices were adjusted according to inflation. Other cars, which were sold independently through private sales, may be a bit pricier than the ones included in our countdown.

Honorable mentions: the Bugatti Type 57SC Atlantic. Only four cars were manufactured and two survive to this day. One of these two was sold to a private buyer, for a reported sum between $30 and $40 million.

Let's take a look at the countdown of the most expensive classic cars.

Hedge fund returns rose by an average of 0.8 percent in October, after global stock values grew in light of the increase in the U.S. debt ceiling, which prevented the nation's default. President Barack Obama signed a law on October 17th, which put an end to the 16-day government shutdown, and extended the state's borrowing power. The extension will allow the nation to continue acquiring debt until early next year.

According to the Bloomberg Hedge Funds Aggregate Index, hedge funds overall returns are still 2.2 percent lower than in July 2007, when the Index reached its highest value. Around 1,470 firms of slightly below 2,400 funds the Index tracks, reported gains in October.

Hedge Fund Intelligence's Absolute Return Composite Index on the other hand, indicates an 1.03 percent gain in returns for the same period. For the year, this represents a 6.11% rise in the Index's value, meaning hedge funds can still outperform last year's achievement of 6.49% gain on returns.

Some hedge funds did better than others, as Anthony Lawler, portfolio manager of the $120 billion Swiss equity management firm GAM, explained. "Managers with significant equity-related positioning, and to a lesser extent long credit exposure, benefited, while those primarily trading other asset classes, such as currencies and rates, generally did not see strong results.”

The $9 billion equity hedge-fund Maverick Capital run by Lee Ainslie, for example, experienced an increase of 1.3 percent in October.  Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management LP on the other hand, saw net gain increase by 7.9 percent during the same period.

In contrast to these winners, Passport Capital LLC's Global Strategy, which belongs to the investment firm run by John Burbank, fell 2.2 percent in October. Ken Griffin's Citadel Investment Group had no such problems, as the $17 billion firm gained 1.8 percent.

Solus Alternative Asset Management and Eton Park Capital reported gains of 3.1 percent and 3.6 percent respectively, a significant contrast to the minor increases experienced by most hedge funds. Christopher Pucillo‘s Solus Alternative Asset Management's flagship fund, Sola, has even achieved an impressive 26 percent gain this year, compared to Eton Park Fund LP's 16 percent increase over the same period of time.

Disclosure: none

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On the back of yesterday’s losses, stocks opened lower today, with the S&P 500 and the narrower, price-weighted Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.28% and 0.46%, respectively, at 10:20 a.m. EST.

A group of hedge funds and private-equity firms are eyeing the takeover of large parts of the Federal National Mortgage (OTCBB:FNMA) Agency and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage (OTCBB:FMCC) Corporation , known as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — the mortgage agencies that guarantee a majority of U.S. home mortgages.

The investor group represents more than half of the ownership, by value, of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s $34.6 billion in preferred shares, which have been made worthless under the terms of the government’s conservatorship.

Under the proposal, those preferred shares would convert to common equity in order to capitalize an insurer that would insure newly issued mortgage-backed securities. Fannie and Freddie’s existing portfolio would remain under the government’s supervision and go into runoff, while a securitization platform to standardize mortgage bonds would also stay under public supervision.

The proposal has the merit of speeding up the process of getting private capital to replace Fannie and Freddie in the U.S. housing system — which is what politicians profess to want to achieve. Both houses of Congress are working on proposals to wind down the agencies; however, I feel that lawmakers lack the sense of purpose and urgency of the investor group that owns the preferred shares. However, politicians would be extremely wary of the public perception that they are handing this very profitable activity to hedge funds and private equity. As such, I’d be surprised if this proposal gained much traction in Washington.

Last Friday, I highlighted the fact that the mortgage agencies were now close to having paid — in dividends to the government — an amount equal to that which taxpayers advanced to Fannie and Freddie at the height of the crisis to keep them from failing (an astonishing $187.5 billion).

The news came with the companies’ quarterly results, which contained bumper profits. (Since last year, the government has expropriated all profits beyond what is necessary to maintain a minimum capital position.) The agencies’ profitability may attract individual (and professional) investors’ attention, but I stand by the warning that I offered last week:

Fannie and Freddie may look like blue-chip stocks, but they are, in fact, special situations that require much knowledge, experience, and intensive monitoring to invest in. … While the agencies are now safer than they were five years ago, common equity holders’ position remains fraught with uncertainty.

The article Will Hedge Funds Take Over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Alex Dumortier, CFA has no position in any stocks mentioned; you can follow him on Twitter @longrunreturns. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

Copyright © 1995 – 2013 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Larry Robbins’ Obamacare Bet Makes Him Hedge Fund Manager Of The Year (Forbes)
Two major and controversial stories have dominated America in the last two years. One of them is Obamacare, President Barack Obama's signature legislative achievement that is currently facing mounting problems and criticism as it gets implemented. Another important development in America has been the roaring comeback of the U.S. stock market, which has soared to new all-time highs. One man has harnessed these two trends to make a fortune like no one else. Larry Robbins, who runs hedge fund firm Glenview Capital Management, made a huge bet on Obamacare and the U.S. stock market that is paying off in a big way.

Hedge Fund Industry on the Road to Recovery (DigitalJournal)
Extreme market volatility, adverse global macroeconomic conditions, underperforming markets and low consumer confidence all colluded to create an extremely hostile environment for hedge funds last year. But in many ways, 2012 was rock bottom, and the hedge fund industry inevitably became stronger in the face of that challenge. That is why 2013, despite a growing regulatory burden, is shaping up to be a better year, paving the way for sustained growth in the near future. The World Finance Hedge Fund Awards represent the best players in the industry and offer an insight into the many success stories amid an ever-volatile marketplace.

Hedge funds added to this year’s gains in October (Reuters)
Hedge funds added to their performance gains in October as stock markets continued to rally, boosted by the United States avoiding a default on its debt and further signs the world’s largest economies are growing, new data showed on Tuesday. According to the SS&C GlobeOp Hedge Fund Performance Index, the average fund returned 1.06 percent last month, bringing year-to-date gains to 9.93 percent. The index rose 0.1 percent in October 2012 and was up 7.78 percent in the 10 months to end October last year. Hedge funds are enjoying a strong 2013, with most of the main strategies making their clients money and leaving managers to collect the lucrative performance fees they charge…

Hedgies have built a sector on an aura of exclusivity (FT)
You are a discerning member of the elite. So please read on. We have to be selective, obviously. Just as Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) will doubtless be in inviting investors to participate in Petershill II, a private equity fund that will buy stakes in hedge fund partnerships. One can't give any old Tom, Dick or Harriet access to such an exclusive investment. Or the go-ahead to peruse this incredibly classy column. An aura of privileged access has been a key marketing tool for hedge funds, privately owned asset management businesses that took off in earnest in the UK over a decade ago.

SEC Makes Deferred Prosecution Agreement With Hedge Fund Administrator (HedgeCo)
For the first time in SEC history the agency has deferred prosecution against a former hedge fund administrator who helped the SEC take action against a hedge fund manager who stole investor assets. The SEC agreed to a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA)* with Scott Herckis when he helped them secure an emergency enforcement action against Berton M. Hochfeld, the founder of Connecticut-based hedge fund Heppelwhite Fund LP. Hochfeld is accused of misappropriating more than $1.5 million from the hedge fund and overstating its performance to investors.

Ex-GoldenTree's Wagner Joins Trilogy as President of Merged Firm (BusinessWeek)
Leon Wagner, the retired chairman of GoldenTree Asset Management LP, joined Greenwich, Connecticut-based credit hedge-fund firm Trilogy Capital LLC, according to a letter to investors. Wagner's credit-focused investment firm LWPartners LP will merge with Trilogy and become a partner in the hedge-fund manager, according to the Nov. 8 letter, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News. Wagner will be president of the combined firm, which is being renamed TrilogyLWP LLC.

Asian currencies out of favor again? (CNBC)

Adam Weiss‘ hedge fund, Weiss Asset Management, now holds around 24.4 million shares of LSE-listed company Sirius Real Estate Limited (LON:SRE), down from around 25.2 million shared held earlier. The position amasses 6.96% of the company’s voting rights, according to a filing.

Disclosure: none

A newly amended filing with the SEC has just revealed that activist Barry Rosenstein‘s Jana Partners increased its stake in QEP Resources Inc (NYSE:QEP) to 7.6%, equal to over 13.54 million shares. At the same time, the fund sent a letter to company’s board stating a plan that they “have laid out to reverse QEP's chronic underperformance for shareholders.”

The letter can be accessed through the link below:

Jana Partners Letter to QEP Resources

Earlier in October, Jana Partners already outlined that it is going to get involved in QEP Resources via multiple activist strategies, and today’s letter strengthens that plan.

Disclosure: none

Yesterday, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway publicly disclosed a new Form 4 filing, in which it revealed that it had increased its exposure at DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc (NYSE:DVA). Berkshire purchased just under 3.7 million shares, bringing its total holdings in the healthcare company to 35.1 million shares. The shares were purchased at prices ranging from $53.24 to $55.98, and with this latest acquisition, Berkshire Hathaway now owns approximately 16.5% of DaVita, one of the nation’s leading kidney care specialists.

The purchase of DaVita shares comes just a few days after the firm announced its third quarter results. During the conference call the company’s CEO made some rather dramatic statements such as: "I want to remind you that if there are significant cuts, we will be forced to close a number of centers.”

The statement continued emphasizing the difficulties 2014 will bring, as the following excerpt explains: "In addition to the Medicare cuts that may happen, we also have potential hits due to increased commercial rate pressure and the potential impact of the exchanges, and so we will be looking to do some expense pruning wherever we can, although we cannot put a number on that at this time."

But why would Warren Buffett add to its holdings of DaVita with such a grim outlook?

The answer is actually quite simple: long-term investment. Since share prices dropped around 4% following the conference call, Berkshire Hathaway took advantage of the situation to increase its holdings at a reduced price. The uncertainties DaVita is facing are short-term, while its long-term projections remain intact, thus Berkshire's acquisition makes sense.

Apart from Berkshire Hathaway, which is by far the firm with the largest holdings in DaVita (of those we track), Alan Fournier's Pennant Capital Management has a large position here too. Other hedge funds, such as William B. Gray's Orbis Investment Management, D.E. Shaw, and Jeffrey Gates' Gates Capital Management, hold more than 1 million shares of common stock each.

Disclosure: none

Investment Management firm Avenir Corporation disclosed, in a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, adding Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) to its equity portfolio. The firm reported a 5.3% activist stake, which amasses over 4.03 million shares of the company.

Disclosure: none

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Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE:RDS.A) has decided to enter the Chinese market with a vengeance. Rumors have it that a $1 billion per year plan has been put forth for the production of nonconventional natural gas. The most important projects taking part of this new business strategy are said to be developed in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

So far, Shell has become one of the leading international lubricant companies in China, and growth in the oriental country reached double digits already. But the difficulties faced by domestic companies for the development of fossil reserves, and a growing need for energy resources, has convinced Chinese authorities to open the market to foreign interest.

Additionally, Royal Dutch Shell is already conducting offshore operations in the Yinggehai Basin west of the Hainan Island, China. In total, the Anglo-Dutch firm and CNOOC have signed three oil and gas production sharing contract. All contracts are concerned with the same region, making the new contract all the more relevant. Yet no company representative has confirmed the news or commented about the possibility of entering the nonconventional production business in mainland China.

Even though prospects for the unconventional gas and oil production in China are positive, difficulties are at the order of the day. To start with, competition is far from fair since authorities continue to strongly promote local interests. Also, authorities are more prone to let foreign interests enter the unconventional side of the oil and gas business.

On another note, Shell's listed shareholders on Friday, November 15^th, will be paid a dividend of $0.90 per share on Monday, December 23^rd. The announcement represents a 15% increment with respect to the last quarterly payment.

Last, Royal Dutch Shell's floating liquefied natural gas project, called Prelude, continues to move forward. As of this week, work on the joining of the two hull sections, being a key stage in the building of the largest ship the world has seen. The video of this development is below:

Disclosure: none