Hedge Fund King Street Raising Funds for ‘Slow-Motion Car Crash’ in Credit (Bloomberg)
Brian Higgins has helped guide King Street Capital Management to pounce on some of the most high-profile distressed debt events of the past two decades, from Lehman Brothers Holdings to Revlon Inc. to WeWork Inc. Now the $23 billion hedge fund’s co-founder is gearing up with his colleagues to seize on opportunities as rising interest rates and a weakening economy pinch companies laden with debt taken on when borrowing costs were much lower.
Crispin Odey Under Investigation Over Sexual Misconduct Charges (The Wall Street Journal)
The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority is investigating whether hedge-fund manager Crispin Odey is a “fit and proper person” to work in financial services, and has been in contact with police regarding sexual-misconduct allegations against him. The financial regulator confirmed Wednesday it was investigating Odey and said it was also investigating the London hedge fund he founded more than thirty years ago, Odey Asset Management. The probe focuses on allegations that Odey dismissed the hedge fund’s executive committee for “an improper purpose,” the FCA said. It didn’t provide further details. The Financial Times newspaper previously reported that Odey allegedly fired the committee in 2021 in the midst of an investigation into his conduct.
Pershing Square ‘Fundamentally Mispriced’, Says Investec (CityWire.com)
A reputation as a high-charging hedge fund has left Bill Ackman’s strategy on a 33% discount despite delivering the best five-year returns of any North America fund. With all sectors of investment companies trading below asset value as high inflation and interest rates alarm stock markets, contrarian investors are spoiled for choice looking for potential closed-end fund bargains. Analysts at Investec believe there are fewer bigger opportunities right now than Pershing Square Holdings (PSH), the £6.1bn, FTSE 100-listed North America equities fund in whose shares the broker makes a market.
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Hedge Fund Confidence Falls on Macroeconomic and Geopolitical Concerns (Hedge Week)
The average confidence of hedge fund mangers in the economic prospects of their businesses over the coming 12 months fell slightly in the second quarter of the year to +14.2, from +16.3 in Q1, according to the latest AIMA Hedge Fund Confidence Index (HFCI). The downturn, which drags the HFCI further away from the historic average of +17.5, comes despite a slightly greater percentage of respondents representing managers with more than $1 billion in assets (77% in Q2 versus 71% in Q1), and the average AUM of respondents also increasing to $7.9 billion, up by almost $1 billion from the prior quarter – both historic indicators of greater confidence.
RAM Reaches the End of the Road (Hedge Nordic)
One of the longest-running hedge funds in Sweden, RAM ONE, is shutting down. After over two decades of operation, Swedish hedge fund boutique RAM Rational Asset Management has decided to close all three of its funds and initiate the liquidation process. The management team acknowledges the challenges they have faced in generating the desired risk-adjusted returns in recent years, leading to the decision to cease the management of long/short equity fund RAM ONE, its younger UCITS version, and a recently-launched long-only equity fund named RAM Long Active Value.
