Ken Griffin Leaves Stamp on Chicago With a $130 Million Giving Spree (Bloomberg)
It’s hard to escape Ken Griffin’s name if you live in Chicago. The Citadel founder, who for years was Illinois’s richest man, has given more than $600 million to organizations in the Windy City since arriving in 1989. His name adorns a hall at the Art Institute of Chicago. The entire Museum of Science & Industry plans to take on the billionaire hedge fund manager’s name in 2024. Some of his extensive art collection is on display at the University of Chicago, also home of the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics.
This Quant Manager Offers a Rarity: An ESG Fund That’s Up This Year (Institutional Investor)
Welton Investment Partners’ ESG multi-asset fund — designed to provide investors with equity-like returns during up markets and downside protection during declines — got its first test in 2022. Most ESG offerings, which are still generally long-only equity strategies, suffered heavy losses this year. In contrast, Welton’s fund returned 8.04 percent through May, according to sources familiar with the performance. The fund, called ESG Advantage, is only a couple of years old, but it’s based on Welton’s two-decade-old, multi-strategy hedging process.
Bill Ackman Gives $18K to Toddler Orphaned in Highland Park Shooting (New York Post)
Hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman gave $18,000 to a GoFundMe for two-year-old Aiden McCarthy, whose parents were killed at the July 4th Highland Park, Illinois parade, according to the donation website. Ackman is Jewish and the number 18 symbolizes life and good luck in Judaism. McCarthy’s mother was a Jewish emigre and Highland Park is a largely Jewish community outside of Chicago.
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Hedge Fund Managers Are Confident About The Next Year Despite The Many Headwinds (Forbes)
Despite the weak performance numbers we’re seeing from sources like Eurekahedge and Citco, hedge fund managers generally report being confident about their funds’ economic prospects over the next 12 months. Soaring inflation and the geopolitical turmoil hovering over Europe right now aren’t taking a bite out of hedge fund confidence either. For May, Eurekahedge reported a decline of -.57% on an equal-weighted basis and a decline of 0.32% on an asset-weighted basis for reporting hedge funds. It was the second straight month of declining performance for hedge funds, driven by aggressive interest rate hikes that stoked fears about a recession. Meanwhile, hedge funds administered by Citco returned -1.1% for May.
High Inflation will Last for Years Amid Global Turmoil, Hedge Funder Famous from ‘The Big Short’ Says (Fortune)
Michael Burry, the prolific tweeter and hedge fund manager whose prescient bet against the housing market before the 2008 financial crisis was featured in The Big Short, said Tuesday that he thinks inflation could persist for years. The 51-year-old founder of Scion Asset Management pointed to the restructuring of the global supply chain as the driving force behind higher prices, delivering his warning in an awkwardly phrased tweet.
Man Group Well Positioned, Cash Generative, World’s Largest Listed Hedge Fund (DirectorsTalkInterviews.com)
Man Group PLC (LON:EMG) recently published results for the quarter ended 31st March 2022 with net inflows over $3 billion record Assets under Management and they’ve also paid a bi-annual dividend for a number of years now. DirectorsTalk caught up with Fund Manager Gervais Williams for his thoughts on the company.
Korean Hedge Fund Starts Buying Samsung on Bet Bottom Is Near (Bloomberg)
South Korean hedge fund Billionfold Asset Management Inc. said it started buying Samsung Electronics Co. this week on the view the stock’s plunge of almost 40% from a record high is coming to an end. Excessive selling has made Samsung shares attractive, An Hyungjin, the chief executive officer of the 170 billion won ($130 million) fund, said in an interview in Seoul on Wednesday. “We are nearing the bottom,” An said.
Billionaire Andreas Halvorsen Just Bought DNA Stock. Here’s Why. (InvestorPlace.com)
Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE:DNA) are in full focus after Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global reported purchasing 64 million shares of DNA stock, increasing its existing position by 125%. As of Q1, the hedge fund owned 51.05 million shares. Halvorsen, a notable Tiger Cub, founded Viking in 1999. Today, the firm manages more than $24 billion in 13F securities. According to Forbes, Halvorsen has a net worth of $6.6 billion and ranks 375th on the Forbes 2022 Billionaires list as of the time of writing. In total, Viking owns 93 positions, with DNA stock as its 25th-largest position. Furthermore, the fund has a top 10 holdings concentration of 40.01% and holds each stock in its portfolio for an average of 4.78 quarters.
Thursday 7/7 Insider Buying Report: KDP, CXDO (Nasdaq.com)
On Tuesday, Keurig Dr Pepper’s Chief Supply Chain Officer, Maurice Anthony Milikin, made a $466,725 purchase of KDP, buying 12,979 shares at a cost of $35.96 each. Keurig Dr Pepper is trading up about 0.2% on the day Thursday. Before this latest buy, Milikin made one other buy in the past twelve months, purchasing $463,999 shares for a cost of $35.75 each. And also on Tuesday, Chief Executive Officer Steven G. Mihaylo bought $20,933 worth of Crexendo, buying 7,143 shares at a cost of $2.93 each. Before this latest buy, Mihaylo bought CXDO at 81 other times during the past year, for a total investment of $3.06M at an average of $3.47 per share. Crexendo Inc is trading up about 0.3% on the day Thursday. So far Mihaylo is in the green, up about 6.8% on their buy based on today’s trading high of $3.13.
$10 Million Bet On This Stock? 3 Penny Stocks Insiders are Buying (Benzinga)
CalAmp: The Trade: CalAmp Corp. (CAMP) Director Wes Cummins acquired a total of 106,900 shares at an average price of $4.14. To acquire these shares, it cost around $442.57 thousand. Verrica Pharmaceuticals: The Trade: Verrica Pharmaceuticals Inc. (VRCA) Director Paul Manning acquired a total of 4,761,904 shares at an average price of $2.10. The insider spent around $10 million to buy those shares.
Soho China CFO Probed For Insider Trading; Shares Fall 2.8% In Hong Kong (Forbes)
Soho China, the China real estate developer led by billionaire couple Pan Shiyi and Zhang Xin, on Thursday confirmed mainland news reports that chief financial officer Ni Kuiyang is under investigation by the police on suspicion of insider trading in the company’s shares. “None of the directors or other senior officers of the Company is aware of the circumstances of the alleged insider trading and is not directly involved in the investigation,” Soho China said in a statement.
