What’s Ailing Perceptive? (Institutional Investor)
The life sciences specialist’s hedge fund is down significantly this year — and its recently merged SPAC is also underwater. It has been a rough year for Perceptive Advisors. The life sciences specialist headed by Joseph Edelman posted nearly a 21 percent loss in its hedge fund in the first six months of the year, according to a private hedge fund database.
Ackman Drops Bid for $4 Billion Stake in Universal Music (Los Angeles Business Journal)
Billionaire Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd. scrapped plans to buy 10% of Santa Monica-based Universal Music Group for about $3.95 billion. But this isn’t the end of Ackman’s financial ties with Universal Music, the world’s largest music company owned by French conglomerate Vivendi. Though viewed as a setback for the activist hedge fund investor, Ackman said he plans to still become a long-term investor in Universal Music — though not through a SPAC, or special purpose acquisition company.
BlueBay Asset Management Expands ESG Investment Team (Hedge Week)
BlueBay Asset Management has expanded its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) investment team with the addition of Emma Whiteacre as a Senior ESG Analyst, and Elena Koycheva as ESG Institutional Portfolio Manager. Based in London, Whitecare reports to My-Linh Ngo, Head of ESG Investment, Portfolio Manager, and will contribute to BlueBay’s ongoing ESG investment management efforts, particularly in the area of climate change.
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Hedge Funds Seek the Amazon of Cryptocurrencies (Bloomberg)
During a gold rush, invest in shovel makers, goes the adage. That’s precisely what hedge funds looking to get in on the excitement around cryptocurrencies are doing with a flurry of investments in platforms created to buy, sell and store virtual currencies. At the same time, regulators around the world are asking more questions about how much protection any companies handling crypto assets should offer investors. Tighter rules look inevitable if the market for digital currencies is to become anything more than a sideshow in the world of finance.
Lordstown Motors Receives $400 mln Investment from Hedge Fund (Reuters)
July 26 (Reuters) – Lordstown Motors Corp (RIDE.O) said on Monday it received a $400 million equity investment from hedge fund YA II PN Ltd, at a time when the electric-truck maker is under regulatory scrutiny related to its SPAC merger and vehicle pre-orders. According to a regulatory filing, Mountainside, New Jersey-based fund YA, managed by investment management services provider Yorkville Advisors Global LP, has agreed not to engage in any short sales or hedging transactions on Lordstown stock.
Hedge Funds Hit $4 Trillion-Mark (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Hedge fund assets surpassed the $4 trillion-mark to reach an all-time high of $4.15 trillion after three consecutive quarters of inflows and the best first-quarter performance since 2006, according to Preqin. Investors poured $10.9 billion into hedge funds in the first quarter, which, combined with the Preqin All-Strategies Hedge Fund benchmark’s return of 6.9 percent, resulted in a quarter-over-quarter increase in assets under management of $150 billion.
