Goodbye Och-Ziff. Hello, Sculptor. Hedge Fund Tries on New Name (Bloomberg)
In naming their hedge funds, managers have found inspiration in a childhood neighborhood (Highbridge), favorite ski trails (FrontFour) and even a grandfather (Melvin). At Och-Ziff Capital Management Inc., executives sought out branding professionals and spent tens of thousands of dollars to come up with a new name: Sculptor Capital Management.
Scaramucci No Longer Backs Trump’s Reelection, Says Change May be Needed at Top of Ticket (CNN)
Washington (CNN) Anthony Scaramucci, a former White House communications director who has frequently defended President Donald Trump on television, said Monday he no longer supports Trump’s reelection bid and that the top of the 2020 Republican presidential ticket may need to be replaced. The comments to CNN’s John Berman come following a weekend in which Scaramucci and Trump traded barbs. The former hedge fund manager has increasingly criticized Trump’s racist rhetoric as well as his recent visits to the scenes of mass shootings. Asked by Berman on “New Day” if he was “no longer an active supporter of President Trump and his reelection bid,” the former Trump loyalist replied, “I think that’s pretty obvious from over the weekend.”
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After Crushing the London Whale, a Hedge-Fund Star Lost His Way (Bloomberg)
In the aftermath of the financial crisis, hedge-fund titan Andrew Feldstein was hailed on Wall Street as one of the big winners. His BlueMountain Capital Management fund made $300 million in 2012 betting against a former employer, JPMorgan Chase & Co., which was embroiled in the infamous London Whale credit securities scandal. In a kind of victory lap, he was even brought in by Jamie Dimon to help the bank unwind $20 billion of those busted trades.
Goldman Activism Defense Chief Joins Elliott Management (Pensions&Investments)
Goldman Sachs Group’s top activism banker. Steven Barg, is joining the New York hedge fund Elliott Management Corp., one of the main firms he used to defend companies against, according to an internal memo obtained by Bloomberg. Mr. Barg will join the firm as its new global head of corporate engagement, the memo said. Mr. Barg, a Goldman partner, was the bank’s co-head of mergers and acquisitions shareholder advisory. He is also a veteran capital markets banker and spent the bulk of his career in Asia. He joined Goldman in 2010 from UBS Group.
Cloudera (CLDR) Announces Agreement with Carl Icahn; Names 2 to Board (StreetInsider.com)
Cloudera, Inc. (NYSE: CLDR), the enterprise data cloud company, today announced that it has reached a voting and standstill agreement with Carl C. Icahn and certain of his affiliated entities regarding, among other things, the membership and composition of the Company’s Board of Directors (the “Board”) and its committees. Based on the Icahn Group’s Schedule 13D filings, the Company believes the Icahn Group beneficially owns 50,343,460 shares, representing approximately 18.36% of the Company’s outstanding common stock.
Hedge Fund, Managed Futures Performance Up Again in July (Opalesque.com)
Hedge funds continued delivering positive returns in July, starting off the second half of 2019 in the green with aggregate industry performance at +0.73 %. According to the latest eVestment hedge fund performance, July’s results bring year-to-date (YTD) aggregate performance to +7.67 %. Managed Futures funds were among the performance leaders in July, returning an average of +2.29% in July, with YTD performance hitting +8.60%, said the report. According to eVestment figures, the 10 largest funds in the Managed Futures group performed even better, returning +4.62% in July and +12.24% YTD. Long/Short Equity funds produced another month of gains, +0.58% in July, bringing YTD returns to +10.36%. This YTD performance is the strongest among all primary strategies.
Hedgeweek USA Awards 2019 – Last Chance to Vote! (Hedge Week)
Voting for the for the 2019 edition of the annual Hedgeweek USA Awards closes on 15 August. These prestigious awards recognise excellence among hedge fund managers and service providers. We have partnered with Backstop Barclayhedge to provide pre-selected options for each category, except those which are subjective in nature. Backstop Barclayhedge analysed the activity of firms and companies in the US from May 2018- April 2019. Unless otherwise specified in the category title, analysis was limited to the hedge fund space. Hedge fund managers and their service providers are welcome to nominate their own products and firms. Winners will be decided on a majority vote per category.
FCA Examining Claims Share Price of Woodford-held Burford Capital was Illegally Manipulated (Independent.co.uk)
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is looking into claims that the share price of Burford Capital – the second-largest holding in Neil Woodford’s suspended fund – was illegally manipulated around the time of an attack by US hedge fund Muddy Waters. Burford, which provides funding for legal action and takes a cut of the resulting settlements, saw its share value nosedive over the past week after Muddy Waters took a short position on the stock, betting that its value would fall, before publishing a damning report on the company’s financial health.
U.S. Charges RBC Analyst with Insider Trading Ahead of Client’s Merger (Reuters)
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors on Monday criminally charged a junior analyst at RBC Capital Markets with insider trading, saying he bought options in a digital printing company after learning it was in talks to be acquired by an RBC client. Bill Tsai, 23, who graduated last year from New York University’s Stern School of Business, was charged with one count of securities fraud, carrying a maximum 20-year prison term.
A Director at Arrow Financial Corp (NASDAQ: AROW) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Today, a Director at Arrow Financial Corp (AROW), Gary Dake, sold shares of AROW for $113.3K. In addition to Gary Dake, 2 other AROW executives reported Sell trades in the last month. Based on Arrow Financial Corp’s latest earnings report for the quarter ending June 30, the company posted quarterly revenue of $34.12 million and quarterly net profit of $8.93 million. In comparison, last year the company earned revenue of $31.5 million and had a net profit of $9.73 million. AROW’s market cap is $475.4M and the company has a P/E ratio of 13.32. Currently, Arrow Financial Corp has an average volume of 8,439.
Guru Focus (Guru Focus)
Executive vice president & CFO of Chemed Corp, David Patrick Williams, sold 17,979 shares of CHE on 08/12/2019 at an average price of $430.8 a share. The total sale was $7.7 million. Chemed Corp through its subsidiaries, provides hospice and palliative care services to its patients through a network of physicians, registered nurses, home health aides, social workers, clergy and volunteers and also plumbing and drain cleaning services. Chemed Corp has a market cap of $6.86 billion; its shares were traded at around $430.55 with a P/E ratio of 35.60 and P/S ratio of 3.88. The dividend yield of Chemed Corp stocks is 0.28%.
The President & CEO of TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: TCON) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Today, the President & CEO of TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (TCON), Charles Theuer, bought shares of TCON for $22.5K. This recent transaction increases Charles Theuer’s holding in the company by 40.46% to a total of $78.1K. Currently, TRACON Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has an average volume of 83.11K. Company insider trades are published daily on the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission).
