Hedge Fund Citadel Executes Cleared Cash and Repo Trades Through DTCC (Global Custodian)
Hedge fund giant Citadel has executed and cleared both cash Treasury and repo trades through DTCC’s fixed income clearing house in the latest milestone for US buy-side activity moving to central clearing. Palafox LLC, a subsidiary of Citadel, was able to clear its trades following the expansion of the DTCC’s sponsored service, which broadened the category of market participants accessing the Fixed Income Clearing Corporation’s (FICC) cleared repo service, including dealers, non-US banks and prime brokers. Palafox became the first sponsor to facilitate centrally cleared cash and repo trades on behalf of its affiliated sponsored member clients, Citadel’s Global Fixed Income Master Fund.
The 10 Most Powerful Hedge Fund Managers This Year (Worth.com)
As part of Worth’s 10th Annual Power 100, we’re recognizing power players across the industries we cover. Although the hedge fund industry has struggled in the past decade, its founders still yield great financial power. Here are the 10 fund managers to know this year. BILL ACKMAN, CEO, PERSHING SQUARE CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: The 53-year-old activist can certainly shake up companies, with the turnaround he engineered for troubled Chipotle Mexican Grill this past year his latest achievement on that score. But the New York native’s greatest coup may simply be figuring out how to stay in the game.
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Hedge Funds Boost Equity Leverage At Fastest Rate In Three Years (Fa-Mag.com)
Some of the most aggressive traders in the market are embracing stocks after avoiding them for almost a year. Rather than bailing during rallies, hedge funds are jumping in, just as the S&P 500 Index vaults back to records. Net leverage, a measure of industry risk appetite that takes into account long versus short positions, has risen by 6.6 percentage points to 63.9% in June, on course for the biggest increase in three years, data compiled by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s prime brokerage unit showed. The funds started the month with the lowest leverage since 2016.
Spotless Set To Delist As Downer Pressures Hedge Fund (ShareCafe.com.au)
Here’s crunch time for the hold out minorities in Spotless Group who have refused to sell their shares despite Downer EDI grabbing nearly 88% of Spotless in mid-2017. Spotless now wants to delist from the ASX and has called a shareholder vote for July to decide on the issue. With an 87.8% stake Downer will prevail – but probably not before some type of court action from the major hold out – a New York-based fund manager called Coltrane. But a deal between the standouts, led by Coltrane is also likely once realism takes hold and everyone understands the threat from the shareholder meeting.
Länsförsäkringar’s Hedge Fund Starts New Journey (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Länsförsäkringar Multistrategi, a hedge fund that embarked upon a new path and journey after a new team took over the portfolio management duties in mid-June, has now joined the Nordic Hedge Index. Martin Axell and Sebastian Hallenius assumed responsibility for the day-to-day management of the multi-strategy fund on June 12. Before the duo took on the new role, Länsförsäkringar Multistrategi had been managed by portfolio manager Peter Fitzgerald from global asset manager Aviva Investors. Launched in mid-September 2016 with €49 million in assets under management, the fund has been employing a variety of investment strategies across currencies, equities, bonds, real estate, among other asset classes and securities.
SEC Fines Fund Manager $5 Million Over Undervaluation of Assets (The National Law)
A recent action where the SEC focused on the presumably conservative undervaluation of assets suggests that it is more than willing to use valuation as a hook to deter “smoothing” of returns. As we previously noted, while the SEC consistently announces that valuation is a “key area of focus,” it is uncommon for regulators to second guess valuation determinations in the absence of other potential violations. However, failure to adhere to stated valuation policies/procedures is one situation that may lead to heightened regulatory exposure and disputes. Earlier this month, the SEC announced a settled action against Deer Park Road Management Company, LP, a hedge fund that focuses on distressed securities (in particular, pre-2008 residential mortgage-backed securities).
Hedge Funds Boost Equity Leverage at Fastest Rate in Three Years (Bloomberg)
Some of the most aggressive traders in the market are embracing stocks after avoiding them for almost a year. Rather than bailing during rallies, hedge funds are jumping in, just as the S&P 500 Index vaults back to records. Net leverage, a measure of industry risk appetite that takes into account long versus short positions, has risen by 6.6 percentage points to 63.9% in June, on course for the biggest increase in three years, data compiled by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s prime brokerage unit showed. The funds started the month with the lowest leverage since 2016.
FundCount Wins ‘Best Hedge Fund System’ in the Bobsguide Technology Awards (PRNewswire.com)
BOSTON, June 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — FundCount, LLC, a worldwide provider of accounting and investment analysis software, today announced that it was awarded the title of Best Hedge Fund System by bobsguide, an online platform and global information resource for the financial technology sector. The inaugural bobsguide Technology Awards provide a comprehensive overview of the various segments of the fintech market and the partnerships that contribute to success. Winners were selected by an independent judging panel based on several criteria including the strength of technology updates, the impact on client experience, and user and market engagement.
Is There a Big Short in Bitcoin? (The Wall Street Journal)
Hedge funds and other big traders are betting that bitcoin will fall, even as the digital currency has risen above $10,000 on a new wave of crypto-optimism. That is the picture that emerges from bitcoin futures listed on CME Group Inc., the biggest U.S. exchange operator. Futures are contracts that let traders bet on whether an asset—in this case, bitcoin-will rise or fall.
