Brevan Howard’s Main Hedge Fund Gains 6.8% as Panic Roils Market (Bloomberg)
Brevan Howard Asset Management’s flagship hedge fund rose 6.8% last week as the escalating coronavirus outbreak rocked markets. The gain in the week through March 6 boosted the $3.2 billion macro fund’s returns this year to nearly 11%, according to a letter to investors seen by Bloomberg. A spokesman for the Jersey-based investment firm declined to comment.
Hedge Fund Solus Restricts Investor Redemptions (The Wall Street Journal)
Hedge-fund manager Solus Alternative Asset Management LP, known for its investment in retail chain Toys ‘R’ Us, told investors this week that it will restrict redemptions after the fund’s losses deepened, according to people familiar with the matter. Solus is a frequent lender to distressed borrowers and its troubles come as market participants grapple with volatility and forced selling driven by the collapse in oil prices and the spread of the coronavirus.
York Alum Combines Public, Private Deals (HFAlert.com)
A former York Capital executive is starting a hedge fund firm that would trade public equities while allowing limited partners to co-invest in private-company deals. Glen Gordon is aiming for July to launch the debut fund from his New York-based Markley Capital. There’s no word yet on whether he has begun marketing the vehicle broadly or how much capital he hopes to raise, but sources said his history as one of just a few senior managing directors at York should attract serious attention from institutional investors. The fund primarily would take long and short positions in a concentrated portfolio of stocks identified via fundamental research, with its positions spanning numerous sectors. The strategy may key in on certain event-driven catalysts, emphasizing complex companies that Gordon views as out of favor with other investors, a source said.
Chad McDermott / Shutterstock.com
Prudential to Float Part of U.S. Business as Third Point Demands Sale (Reuters)
LONDON/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Prudential (PRU.L) plans to float a minority stake in its U.S. business, Britain’s largest insurer said on Wednesday, as it faces demands from rebel investor Third Point for a full break-up. The U.S. hedge fund last month said it had bought around 5% of the company and called on Prudential to hive off its U.S. business Jackson and cut its London head office, proposals with which investors have sympathy. Prudential’s main businesses are in Asia and the United States after it spun off its British unit last year.
Hedge Fund Investors Take the Naked Volatility Test (Bloomberg)
It’s only when the tide goes out that you find out who’s been swimming naked, the billionaire investor Warren Buffett famously opined. After the violent moves in stocks and bonds this week, H20 Asset Management’s traders need to keep hold of their Speedos. The firm, run by Bruno Crastes and Vincent Chailley and backed by French bank Natixis SA, saw its funds hammered by losses as stocks, oil and Italian bonds slumped on Monday. Its Multiequities fund declined by about 30% in a single day and erased six years of gains, while its Multibonds strategy lost 20%, as my colleagues at Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
Catella Hedgefond Hunts Mispricing (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Catella Hedgefond, one of the largest hedge funds in the Nordics, was down 2.5 percent in February and down 4.9 percent year-to-date through March 10, but the fund’s portfolio managers are ready to capitalize on mispriced opportunities caused by market turmoil. “We are trying to be responsive and pragmatic in the current situation and will hopefully be able to exploit the mispricing that naturally arises during periods of high market turbulence,” says fund manager Mattias Nilsson. Catella Hedgefond mainly invests in Nordic equities and bonds to achieve stable returns at low risk, regardless of market conditions.
