Citadel to Close Aptigon Stock Unit; Felder Leaves: Sources (Reuters)
BOSTON (Reuters) – Citadel, one of the world’s biggest hedge funds, on Thursday told investors and employees it plans to shut down its Aptigon Capital equities unit and that the group’s chief, Eric Felder, has left the firm, two sources familiar with the matter said. Citadel, which oversees $29 billion in assets, said it has “mutually agreed” to part ways with Felder, who was named to head the unit about a year ago.
Alan Howard’s Hedge Fund Slumps 8.5% in Two Months (Bloomberg)
Hedge-fund manager Alan Howard is having a rough start to 2019 in the fund that he oversees himself, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The Brevan Howard AH Master Fund declined 8.5 percent in the first two months of this year, the person said, asking not to be identified because the information hasn’t been widely disclosed. Howard is the sole manager of that fund, which the industry veteran launched two years ago. A spokesman for the Jersey-based investment firm declined to comment.
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Appaloosa Steps Up Pressure on Allergan After Failed Drug Trials (Reuters)
(Reuters) – Hedge fund Appaloosa LP on Thursday repeated its call for an independent chairman at Allergan Plc, after the Botox producer revealed that one of its drugs had failed three clinical studies. Allergan announced on Wednesday that rapastinel, its depression treatment, had failed to meet clinical goals in three late-stage trials, spurring concerns among analysts over the drugmaker’s pipeline of products.
Starboard Value Discloses 4% Stake in Zayo, Pushes for Sale (Bloomberg)
Starboard Value, the activist fund run by Jeff Smith, disclosed a stake in Zayo Group Holdings Inc., adding pressure on the fiber-networks owner to sell itself. The New York-based hedge fund owns 4 percent of Zayo and supports its announcement this week to explore strategic alternatives, Starboard said in a letter Thursday to Zayo Chief Executive Officer Dan Caruso.
Hedge Fund Odey’s New Commodity Fund Goes Short on Rio Copper Mine: Financial Times (Reuters)
LONDON (Reuters) – Hedge fund Odey Asset Management has launched a new commodities fund which, according to the Financial Times, has taken a short position in Rio Tinto’s giant Oyu Tolgoi copper mine in Mongolia. The Odey Concentrated Natural Resources Fund, which launched on March 1, will invest in the commodity sector, using both long and short positions in a range of asset classes, but mostly equities, according to Odey’s website. A spokeswoman for Odey declined to provide details, but the Financial Times reported the largest short position of the fund was in Turquoise Hill Resources, the Canadian firm that partly owns Oyu Tolgoi.
The Hedge Fund Manager Who Bucked The Trend And Became A Billionaire (Forbes)
There are fewer hedge fund managers on The Forbes 400 list of richest Americans than there used to be. The once-swashbuckling industry has been rocked by disappointing returns that have humbled hedge fund stock pickers, activists, macro traders and, as is natural in a long bull market, short sellers. To the extent that there have been exceptions in this era of hedge fund disappointment, they have mostly come from the world of computer-driven quantitative trading and large multi-manager models—and even there it has only been the elite (think Renaissance or Citadel) that have consistently done well.
Och-Ziff’s AUM Down for the Quarter, Up Slightly for the Year (Pensions&Investments)
Och-Ziff Capital Management Group‘s assets under management fell 1.5% in the quarter to $32.5 billion but rose a slight 0.3% in the year ended Dec. 31. Och-Ziff’s net inflows for the year totaled $1.4 billion, fund distributions were $1.3 billion and investment depreciation was $100 million, the firm’s earnings report released Thursday showed. By contrast, net outflows in the year ended Dec. 31, 2017 totaled $7.6 billion, fund distributions were $300 million and investment gains were $2.4 billion for a net decline of $5.5 billion.
