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.
Lasry Marc Buys Pacific Drilling SA, Transocean, Roan Resources Inc, Sells Ocean Rig UDW Inc (GuruFocus)
New York, NY, based Investment company Lasry Marc buys Pacific Drilling SA, Transocean, Roan Resources Inc, Chaparral Energy Inc, Goodrich Petroleum Corp, sells Ocean Rig UDW Inc during the 3-months ended 2018Q4, according to the most recent filings of the investment company, Lasry Marc. As of 2018Q4, Lasry Marc owns 8 stocks with a total value of $454 million. These are the details of the buys and sells. New Purchases: PACD, RIG, ROAN. Added Positions: CHAP, GDP. Reduced Positions: VST. Sold Out: ORIG.
Thursday 3/7 Insider Buying Report: CTL, BSRR (Nasdaq.com)
Bargain hunters are wise to pay careful attention to insider buying, because although there are many various reasons for an insider to sell a stock, presumably the only reason they would use their hard-earned dollars to make a purchase, is that they expect to make money. Today we look at two noteworthy recent insider buys. At CenturyLink (CTL), a filing with the SEC revealed that on Wednesday, CFO Indraneel Dev purchased 50,000 shares of CTL, for a cost of $11.75 each, for a total investment of $587,500. CenturyLink is trading up about 4.6% on the day Thursday. This purchase marks the first one filed by Dev in the past twelve months.
The Corp. Secretary of Kelly Services (NASDAQ: KELYA) is Selling Shares (AnalystRatings)
Today, the Corp. Secretary of Kelly Services (KELYA), James Polehna, sold shares of KELYA for $16.27K. In addition to James Polehna, 2 other KELYA executives reported Sell trades in the last month. KELYA’s market cap is $899.4M and the company has a P/E ratio of 40.22. Currently, Kelly Services has an average volume of 16.25K.
$500k Insider Trading Scheme Brings Down Two Car Wash Business Owners, Court Records Show (NWITimes.com)
HAMMOND — Faced with a struggling car wash business and mounting debt, two Lake County brothers used an insider trading tip from a close friend in California to reap $500,000 in illegal profits, newly filed court records show. Douglas Miller and Edward Miller, co-owners of Hands On Premium Car Wash in St. John, went to great lengths to conceal the conspiracy. They structured wire transactions in such a way to stay under the radar and used prepaid cellphones to communicate before disposing of them, according to federal prosecutors.
WSFS Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WSFS) Insider Trading Activity – Director Sold 14,335 shares of Stock (MarketExclusive)
Insider Trading Activity For WSFS Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WSFS): Mark A Turner , Director of WSFS Financial Co. (NASDAQ:WSFS) reportedly Sold 14,335 shares of the company’s stock at an average price of 45.02 for a total transaction amount of $645,361.70.
