Anthony Scaramucci Says He Sees Inflation as Transitory, Not a Long-Term Problem (CNBC)
Inflationary pressures in the global economy are temporary and won’t be long-term problems, according to hedge fund investor Anthony Scaramucci. The founder and managing partner of SkyBridge Capital said he believes rising prices are related to supply chain constraints and will ease once the bottlenecks are resolved. “I don’t see the inflation being long term. I think this is a transitory aftermath of the crisis,” he told CNBC’s “Capital Connection” on Wednesday.
Lee Enterprises Board Rejects Alden’s Acquisition Offer (The Wall Street Journal)
Lee Enterprises Inc. said its board rejected an unsolicited proposal from New York hedge fund and U.S. newspaper consolidator Alden Global Capital LLC to purchase the company for $24 a share in cash. The local news, information, and advertising services company said Thursday its board determined that Alden’s proposal undervalues the company and isn’t in its best interest.
Elliott’s Activism Doesn’t Always Travel From the Spreadsheet (Bloomberg)
Elliott Management Corp. is a master at forcing companies to do something about the gap between a lowly share price and their value on paper. But the activist hedge fund’s campaign targeting U.K. utility SSE Plc runs up against an awkward reality: Stock markets don’t always obey spreadsheets. SSE is a fiendishly complicated firm with a simple problem. It wants to spend 12.5 billion pounds ($16.5 billion) on doubling its renewable-energy capacity, but it can’t afford to do this while also paying a chunky dividend and preserving its credit rating. So it plans to raise cash by selling as much as 25% of its business operating power lines and connecting British homes to the grid. Plus, it will cut a dividend that costs about 800 million pounds annually.
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Activist Investor Macellum Prepares Kohl’s Board Challenge – Sources (Reuters)
NEW YORK, Dec 9 (Reuters) – Activist hedge fund Macellum Advisors GP LLC is planning to nominate directors to Kohl’s Corp’s (KSS.N) board because it believes the U.S. retailer has not done enough to improve its business, two people familiar with the matter said.
Vivendi to Acquire Amber Capital’s Stake in Lagardere, Sets Takeover Bid in February 2022 (Variety.com)
Vivendi, the parent company of Canal Plus Group, is set to acquire a 17.5% stake in Lagardere, the French media, publishing and travel retail conglomerate, from Amber Capital in the next few days. Vivendi will own 45.1% of the Lagardère capital following the acquisition of 24.7 million shares at a price of €24.10 ($27.27) per share. The company said the transaction will not imply any cash transfers from either party, since Amber Capital will keep the funds received as cash collateral from Vivendi.
Ex-Hedge Fund Star Philip Falcone was Once Worth More than $2bn — Now His Bills Pile Up (Financial News)
Philip Falcone was worth more than $2bn a decade ago. By last year, he was representing himself in court, saying he couldn’t afford a lawyer. “I’m behind on virtually every one of my bills,” Falcone said at a court hearing in a lawsuit filed by one of his many creditors. “Including my kids’ tuition.”
French Systematic Hedge Fund Quantology Unveils Novel Metaverse Strategy (Hedge Week)
French systematic long/short equity hedge fund Quantology Capital Management has launched a novel computer-based strategy which trades in the metaverse. Quantology Metaverse is a US equities-focused systematic long/short strategy which trades those companies operating within the metaverse, a virtual ecosystem of assets and companies spanning the internet, artificial intelligence and blockchain sectors. The esoteric strategy – which is the first UCITS-compliant fund focused on this burgeoning sphere – uses proprietary quantitative models to build portfolio positions in a range of stocks. It aims to outperform the Nasdaq-100 Currency Hedged EUR Total Return Index, and the Nasdaq-100 Net Notional Total Return Index.
Hedge Fund Veteran Citrone Is the Latest to Profit From Bitcoin Bets (Bloomberg)
Add a new name to the rapidly rising number of Bitcoin profiteers. Longtime hedge fund manager Rob Citrone, best known for his macro-trading prowess over two decades at Discovery Capital Management, sold his Bitcoin earlier this year when it surged to $45,000 from his initial investment at $15,000, he told investors at an event this week. He also said he jumped back in after Bitcoin fell to $30,000 in July, according to an investor who attended the event, who asked not to be named because the discussion was private.
Month in Review – November 2021 (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Nordic hedge funds trimmed their year-to-date advance after booking an average loss of 0.6 percent in November (89 percent reported). The Nordic hedge fund industry, as reflected by the Nordic Hedge Index, is up 4.4 percent in 2021, with only one month left until the end of the year. Four of the five strategy categories within the Nordic Hedge Index incurred losses last month, with funds of hedge funds ending the month in the green for a tenth consecutive month.
Polen Capital Acquires $8.2bn Boutique High Yield Manager DDJ Capital Management (Opalesque.com)
Polen Capital Management, a global investment management firm, entered into a purchase agreement to acquire 100% of the equity of DDJ Capital Management, a boutique high yield, bank loan, private credit, and special situations manager. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition marks Polen’s expansion into the high yield market and furthers Polen’s objective of delivering superior active returns to preserve and grow clients’ assets with offerings that meet the increased demand for sustainable income.
Hedge Funds Suffer Sharpest Monthly Drop Since the Start of the Pandemic (Institutional Investor)
Hedge Fund Research’s index hasn’t seen a decline of this size since March 2020. In November, hedge funds saw the largest single-month decline since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data from Hedge Fund Research, a hedge fund data provider. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index, which aggregates the performance of funds of all sizes, fell 2.2 percent. The index hasn’t seen a decline of that magnitude since a 9.1 percent drop in March 2020.
Wednesday 12/8 Insider Buying Report: SNEX, UEPS (Nasdaq.com)
At Stonex Group, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Friday, Director Dhamu R. Thamodaran bought 5,000 shares of SNEX, at a cost of $61.25 each, for a total investment of $306,250. So far Thamodaran is in the green, up about 5.2% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $64.44. Stonex Group is trading down about 0.7% on the day Wednesday. This buy marks the first one filed by Thamodaran in the past twelve months. And on Monday, CEO Lincoln Camagu Mali bought $217,400 worth of Net 1 UEPS Technologies, buying 42,143 shares at a cost of $5.16 each. Net 1 UEPS Technologies is trading up about 8.8% on the day Wednesday. Bargain hunters are able to snag UEPS at a price even lower than Mali did, with the stock changing hands as low as $4.58 at last check today which is 11.2% under Mali’s purchase price.
The Chairman of Icon (NASDAQ: ICLR) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
On December 7, the Chairman of Icon (ICLR), John Climax, sold shares of ICLR for $1.88M. Following John Climax’s last ICLR Sell transaction on March 15, 2010, the stock climbed by 255.0%. Based on Icon’s latest earnings report for the quarter ending September 30, the company posted quarterly revenue of $1.87 billion and GAAP net loss of -$94,270,000. In comparison, last year the company earned revenue of $702 million and had a net profit of $91.64 million.
Ford Chairman Bill Ford Acquires Another 2 Million Shares In The Automaker (Benzinga)
Ford Motor Co (F) Chairman William Clay Ford Jr, popularly known as Bill Ford, exercised stock options to buy nearly 2 million shares of the company, according to a regulatory filing. What Happened: Bill Ford, who is the great grandson of founder Henry Ford, acquired 1,923,238 shares for about $20.5 million, and used the cash to pay exercise costs on the options, instead of selling the resulting shares.
