Carlson Capital’s Latest Investor Update Shows the Hedge Fund has Lost Nearly $3 Billion in Assets and Dozens of Staffers Over the Last 2 Years (Business Insider)
The past two years have not been kind to Clint Carlson‘s hedge fund manager. Carlson Capital has seen its assets fall by billions while investing talent keeps heading out the door. The latest investor update the Dallas-based manager sent out, seen by Insider, shows the damage. Compared to the investor update the firm sent out on April 1, 2019, firm-wide assets have fallen nearly $3 billion from $7.7 billion to $4.8 billion. The drop has been most steep in the firm’s multi-strategy hedge funds, Black Diamond and Double Black Diamond.
2020’s Top Hedge Fund Activist Kept Making Demands Even as the Pandemic Raged (Institutional Investor)
Starboard Value was Insightia’s most influential hedge fund activist last year, beating out Elliott Management. Don’t tell hedge fund Starboard Value that activism is in the doldrums. Shareholder activists pulled in their horns in 2020, targeting 10 percent fewer companies than in 2019 and winning 16 percent fewer board seats, according to a recently published annual review of global activism. But Starboard bucked the trend.
Crispin Odey’s Hedge Fund Quietly Rebrands Funds Amid Ongoing Sexual Assault Trail (CityAM.com)
Odey Asset Management has quietly rebranded seven of its funds ahead of tomorrow’s court date, which will see founder Crispin Odey take to the stand over sexual assault allegations. Seven of the hedge fund’s 19 funds have changed their name from ‘Odey’ to ‘Brook’, referring to the new subsidiary business Brook Asset Management, industry magazine Portfolio Adviser first reported.
Luis Louro / shutterstock.com
Ress Strengthens Team (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Ress Capital is expanding the portfolio management team that runs its alternative investment fund focused on U.S. life insurance policies. With assets under management growing, Markus Biamont has joined the team running Ress Life Investments as a Junior Portfolio Manager. “We are pleased to announce that Markus Biamont has joined Ress Capital as a Junior Portfolio Manager,” writes Ress Capital in a press release.
Tiger-Backed Flutterwave Becomes Latest Nigeria Tech Unicorn (Bloomberg)
Flutterwave Inc. said its valuation passed $1 billion after raising funds from investors including billionaire Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global Management LLC, making the payments firm the third in a spate of Africa-focused tech firms to become so-called unicorns. U.S. hedge fund Tiger was joined by New York private equity firm Avenir Growth Capital in leading the $170 million round, according to a statement on Wednesday. That took total investment to $225 million in five years and pushed the valuation beyond the mark that bestows prestigious unicorn status.
Anthony Scaramucci: I’m Only Focused on Bitcoin, the ‘Big Dog’ (Decrypt)
Anthony Scaramucci told Decrypt he’s all in on Bitcoin – no Ethereum or Dogecoin, for now. Skybridge hopes its Bitcoin Fund can one day convert into a US Bitcoin ETF. Skybridge Capital hedge fund co-founder Anthony Scaramucci has moved on from his brief time in the Trump White House in 2017—and into crypto. In an extensive interview with Decrypt, the former White House communications director explained why he’s gravitated toward Bitcoin – and, for now, only Bitcoin.
Hedge Funds Now Front-Runners to Boost Investor Returns this Year, Says Credit Suisse Survey (Hedge Week)
A majority of investors now believe hedge funds are best placed to enhance the performance of a traditional 60/40 equities and bonds portfolio, with the prevailing rate environment driving a “sense of urgency” among allocators to tap into new sources of returns, a new Credit Suisse survey has found. The bank’s 2021 Hedge Fund Investor Survey, titled ‘A New Dawn’, quizzed more than 200 institutional investors, collectively representing USD800 of hedge fund investments globally. Survey participants – which included pensions, endowments, foundations, consultants, private banks, family offices, and funds of hedge funds – were probed on strategy preferences, allocation plans, and growth and return forecasts, among other things.
Elliott Alum Maps Activist Plays in Japan (Green Street)
A portfolio manager who spent 13 years at hedge fund heavyweight Elliott Management is planning an event-driven operation that engages with the boards of companies in Japan, where activist strategies are gradually gaining more acceptance. Working through his Kikaku Management in Hong Kong, Hidemoto Kawai is expected to launch the fund this month. Kawai worked at Paul Singer’s Elliott until July of last year. The $41.8 billion event-driven manager shut down trading and investment activities in its Hong Kong office on Jan. 1 following passage of a national-security law that makes activist campaigns in Hong Kong more difficult. Primary responsibility for situational trading and investments in Asia has transferred to the New York firm’s London office.
Hedge Fund Manager Pleads Guilty To Bilking Investors Out of Millions (FA-Mag.com)
A South Carolina investment fund manager pleaded guilty yesterday to defrauding clients out of millions of dollars through hedge funds he created, according to the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. In addition to the criminal charges, George Heckler of Charleston, S.C., was charged with fraud in a civil complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission for his mismanagement of the funds, which raised a total of $90 million between 2009 and 2019, the SEC announced yesterday. Approximately $32 million of the money was used to pay early investors. Heckler also used $1 million for himself, both entities said.
Wednesday 3/10 Insider Buying Report: PFSI, SSSS (Nasdaq.com)
At PennyMac Financial Services, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Tuesday, Director Farhad Nanji bought 241,677 shares of PFSI, at a cost of $60.49 each, for a total investment of $14.62M. So far Nanji is in the green, up about 12.4% on their buy based on today’s trading high of $67.97. PennyMac Financial Services is trading up about 3.2% on the day Wednesday. And at Suro Capital, there was insider buying on Friday, by See Remarks Allison Green who bought 16,610 shares for a cost of $11.91 each, for a total investment of $197,854. This purchase marks the first one filed by Green in the past twelve months. Suro Capital is trading up about 3.8% on the day Wednesday. Green was up about 17.4% on the buy at the high point of today’s trading session, with SSSS trading as high as $13.99 in trading on Wednesday.
The EVP, Advisor to the Management of Pioneer Natural (NYSE: PXD) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the EVP, Advisor to the Management of Pioneer Natural (PXD), Chris Cheatwood, sold shares of PXD for $1.02M. Following Chris Cheatwood’s last PXD Sell transaction on December 16, 2020, the stock climbed by 40.6%. In addition to Chris Cheatwood, 2 other PXD executives reported Sell trades in the last month.
DCB Bank’s Two Senior Officials Settle Insider Trading Case with Sebi (The Economic Times)
MUMBAI: DCB Bank NSE -0.30 %’s two senior officials has settled insider trading case with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) by paying Rs 66.93 lakh each as settlement charges. R Venkattesh, HR head, and Ravi Kumar Vadlamani, head of operations & key projects at DCB Bank, disgorged Rs 11.35 lakh and Rs 5.26, respectively, as loss avoided along with interest to Sebi.
The Estee Lauder Inc (EL) EVP & CFO Tracey Thomas Travis Sold $6.5 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
EVP & CFO of The Estee Lauder Inc, Tracey Thomas Travis, sold 22,924 shares of EL on 03/09/2021 at an average price of $285.01 a share. The total sale was $6.5 million. The Estee Lauder Companies Inc is a beauty products manufacturer providing Skin care, Makeup, Fragrance and Hair care services. The Estee Lauder Companies Inc has a market cap of $102.69 billion; its shares were traded at around $283.090000 with a P/E ratio of 113.69 and P/S ratio of 7.30.
