Bill Ackman’s $500 Million Bet on Himself Pays Off After Losing Streak (Bloomberg)
Bill Ackman made a big bet on himself even as some investors were second-guessing the future of his hedge fund, Pershing Square Capital Management. So far, it’s paying off. The billionaire plowed about $500 million into the publicly traded arm of his fund last year, arguing it was significantly undervalued. At the time, Pershing Square Holdings Ltd. was trading at roughly $15 a share.
David Tepper Broke The NFL (Deal Breaker)
You might think there isn’t much of a downside to owning something worth an average of $2.9 billion. And clearly, there is not. After all, David Tepper gave up both his lifetime fandom for the Pittsburgh Steelers and his exceptionally lucrative career as a hedge fund manager to be one of the 32 members of the most exclusive club in all the land, owners of National Football League teams and demanders of public money for their toys. The thing about owning something worth very nearly $3 billion, however, is that it’s only worth $3 billion if someone has $3 billion to pay for it. And it is hard for it to become worth more than $3 billion under those circumstances, too.
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Founder of World’s Largest Hedge Fund Sees 25% Chance of US Recession (FX Street)
Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, sees 25% chance of a US recession this year and in 2020 and believes the response by the major central banks would be limited, according to Bloomberg. Dalio said: “The Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and Bank of Japan have to face the fact that when the next downturn comes there will not be the power to reverse it in the same way that existed before.”
Indian Hedge Funds Underperform in July, China Funds Fare Better (DFS Caller)
Indian hedge funds lagged others during the budget-month, suggesting that they may have been caught on the wrong foot on how they were positioned for the first Union Budget of the new government. The fall in July was amid Budget disappointments, and selling by foreign portfolio investors after the introduction of higher taxes on their returns in Indian markets. The Eurekahedge India Hedge Fund Index was down 3.42 per cent, its worst performance in ten months. The last time the index did worse was in September 2018. The index showed a 7.7 per cent decline amidst headwinds including…
A Hedge Fund Reportedly Lost $1 billion in August Betting on Argentina’s Economy Recovering (CNBC)
One of the better-performing hedge funds reportedly took a heavy loss last month, as a big bet on Argentina’s economy went sour. Autonomy Capital lost about $1 billion, or about 23%, in August after taking a large position in Argentina’s 100-year bonds, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The hedge fund began betting on Argentina’s recovery last year, the report said.
Hedge Funds could Cash in on Fannie Mae-Freddie Mac Change (Pensions&Investment)
The Trump Administration’s plan to release Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from their government shackles laid out a vision that could eventually lead to hedge fund managers minting riches on their investments in the mortgage giants. But the Treasury Department’s proposal left much to be ironed out, signaling there might not be a windfall unless President Donald Trump wins re-election in 2020. That sentiment was palpable in early Wall Street trading Friday with Fannie and Freddie seeing their biggest one-day drops since January.
