Investor Bill Ackman Advises Trump to Shut Down the Country, Saying Stock Market ‘will Soar’ (CNBC)
Longtime hedge fund manager Bill Ackman on Wednesday advised President Donald Trump to shut down the U.S. for one month in an effort to contain the novel coronavirus and said financial markets would rally in response to such decisive action. Ackman, who founded Pershing Square Capital Management, called on the president to both close the nation’s borders as well as offer Americans a one-month rent, interest and tax holiday to help offset an expected deceleration in U.S. GDP growth.
Englander’s Millennium Down 2.7% this Month to March 12 – Sources (Reuters)
LONDON, March 18 (Reuters) – Hedge Fund Millennium Management, which has $40 billion in assets under management, lost 2.7% in the first 12 days of March, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Wednesday. The losses follow the multi-strategy fund run by Israel Englander eking out gains of 0.38% in February after returns of 9.2% in 2019, according to data compiled by HSBC and seen by Reuters. Hedge funds that employ a similar strategy were down 1.29% on average in February, according to a report from Nomura.
Market Volatility has Returned and so has Faith in the Value Investing Ethos Embraced by Billionaire Seth Klarman. His Legendary, Out-of-Print Book Explains Why He Never Listens to the Market Either Way (Business Insider)
Billionaire Seth Klarman‘s investing philosophy has been in something of a rut for years. But comparing his recent writings to investors to his nearly 30-year-old book show that he hasn’t changed the way he does things – and value might be making a return as the markets tumble due to coronavirus fears. Klarman has doubled down on his belief that the market does not reflect the true value of an investment because it’s based on the actions of others, not the underlying fundamentals. In his letter to investors at the beginning of this year, he said that “short-term market gyrations matter little unless one wishes to – or is forced to – transact.”
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Europe-Focused Secondaries Fundraising (Preqin)
Only two Europe-focused secondaries funds have closed as of February 2020, but aggregate capital raised is already at more than 83% of 2019’s €1.8bn total. With the largest-ever Europe-focused secondaries fund close to meeting its target size, 2020 fundraising could scale new heights. This factsheet presents the latest data on Europe-focused secondaries fundraising, and also takes a look at global secondaries performance and the breakdown of expected secondary market sellers in the coming years.
Bridgewater Associates Performance Hit by Coronavirus (The Wall Street Journal)
Bridgewater Associates LP, the world’s largest hedge-fund firm, took a big hit to its funds as it got caught out by the market impact of the coronavirus. Bridgewater’s All-Weather funds tumbled as much as 14% this year through Monday, according to a letter founder Ray Dalio sent Wednesday to investors that was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. One of the firm’s flagship macro funds, Pure Alpha, is down 21%.
Ken Griffin’s Citadel has Sprouted a Sprawling Alumni Network of Hedge Funds – Showing the Power of the $30 billion Brand with Day-one Investors (Business Insider)
Billionaire Citadel founder Ken Griffin has built one of the most well-known brands in hedge-fund history, and those who have worked for him have benefitted. A Business Insider review has found dozens of funds started by an alum of Citadel or connected to Griffin in some way. While Griffin isn’t in the business of seeding top producers in the way Tiger Management founder Julian Robertson or George Soros were, Citadel’s pod structure gives portfolio managers the chance to run a team.
New York hedge Fund Says it is “Simply Not Exposed” to Mainstream Markets (Opalesque.com)
By avoiding popular hedge fund strategies, a New York-based fund manager has so far avoided the widely experienced losses. Morgan Stanley analysts estimated that hedge funds across all strategies were down an average of 7.6% YTD versus a decline in the MSCI AC World Index of around 20% at the time, reported NYTimes.com. The note was sent Monday morning before U.S. stocks sank another 12%, and the analysts said at that point they were yet to see “capitulation,” or panic selling that some believe could lead to a bottom. Eagle’s View Capital Management, LLC, a fund manager founded in 2005 by Neal Berger, now has the opportunity to show their investors why their portfolio was designed the way it is.
Swedish Hedge Fund Pioneer Brummer & Partners Sees Flagship Strategy Falter (Hedge Week)
Brummer & Partners, the long-running Swedish multi-strategy hedge fund firm, is maintaining its market neutral approach and focus on diversification after its flagship strategy stumbled during the recent steep market sell-off. In a note to investors this week, founder Patrik Brummer and Mikael Spångberg, CEO and portfolio manager of the Brummer Multi-Strategy fund, said markets are set to be characterised by “great concern and high volatility” for some time.
A Short Primer on the New Law of Insider Trading (Law.com)
In his Corporate Securities column, John C. Coffee Jr. writes: Practitioners, listen up! You need to unlearn much of what you think you know about the law of insider trading. That law is changing—and quickly. In addition, new legislation has passed the House by an overwhelming margin and could conceivably pass the Senate this year. Practitioners, listen up! You need to unlearn much of what you think you know about the law of insider trading. That law is changing—and quickly. In addition, new legislation has passed the House by an overwhelming margin and could conceivably pass the Senate this year.
Michigan Pension Fund Sues World Wrestling Entertainment (AI-CIO.com)
The City of Warren Police and Fire Retirement System in Warren, Michigan, has filed a class action lawsuit against World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) that alleges the sports entertainment company and certain senior executives made false and misleading statements regarding a distribution deal in Saudi Arabia. It also accuses CEO Vince McMahon of reaping $261 million from insider trading. Also named as defendants in the lawsuit are WWE’s former co-presidents George Barrios and Michelle Wilson, who are also accused of insider trading.
The CLO of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the CLO of Activision Blizzard (ATVI), Christopher Walther, bought shares of ATVI for $5.55M. Following this transaction Christopher Walther’s holding in the company was increased by 90.87% to a total of $6.98 million. Following Christopher Walther’s last ATVI Buy transaction on February 29, 2016, the stock climbed by 25.3%.
Equinix Inc (EQIX) CEO and President Charles J Meyers Sold $1.2 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO and President of Equinix Inc., Charles J Meyers, sold 2,093 shares of EQIX on 03/16/2020 at an average price of $566.67 a share. The total sale was $1.2 million. Equinix Inc is a network-neutral provider of retail data center, co-location, and interconnection services. Its client base includes network services firms, cloud and IT service providers, financial service firms, digital, and media content providers.
