Herbalife CFO Looks to Change Investor Views After Years of Activist Pressure (The Wall Street Journal)
Herbalife Nutrition Ltd. ’s new finance chief is working to change investors’ view of the business after years of activist pressure, which abated in January when Carl Icahn – once its largest shareholder—sold a large chunk of his stake and relinquished his board seats. A yearslong struggle between Mr. Icahn and William Ackman, an activist investor who bet against Herbalife’s stock, diverted investors’ attention away from the business, said Alex Amezquita, who took over Herbalife’s finance function in November. “We talked about Carl Icahn, Bill Ackman and all these other things, rather than the business itself,” he said.
Maverick Capital’s Top Stock-Picker Andrew Warford is Leaving the $9 Billion Fund to Run His Own Family Office (Business Insider)
Long-serving Maverick Capital executive Andrew Warford is leaving the $9 billion hedge fund. Warford, chairman of the firm’s stock committee and de facto head of the fund, is departing after 18 years, according to sources familiar with the matter. Warford holds a sizable economic interest in the fund – he has a stake of at least 25% of the firm, according to regulatory filings. Sources tell Insider he will run his family office from Minnesota.
ACI Worldwide Signs Agreement with Starboard to Add Two Independent Directors (Reuters)
(Reuters) – ACI Worldwide Inc said on Thursday it has signed an agreement with hedge fund Starboard Value LP to add two new independent directors to the payments software provider’s board. Starboard, which owns a 7.7% stake in ACI, had urged the company to hire advisers and consider a sale in December, two months after calling it an “attractive” takeover candidate.
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Innovating During Good and Bad Times (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Many quant-focused strategies and managers struggled to varying degrees in last year’s coronavirus-convulsed market environment. Especially in the systematic macro space, many a manager was battling with dwindling performance and pressure on assets under management. “One should expect even good investments to perform horribly from time to time,” quant pioneer Renaissance Technologies wrote in a rare letter to clients discussing its underwhelming 2020 performance. Whereas its Medallion hedge fund, only available to employees and a select group of others, advanced 76 percent in 2020, its three funds open to outsiders incurred losses between 20 percent and 30 percent in 2020.
State Street Urged to Clarify Ban Impact on H.K. Fund (Bloomberg)
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority is asking State Street Corp.’s Asia unit to clarify how it plans to address the effect of U.S. sanctions on its $13.5 billion exchange traded fund. The Tracker Fund, which traces the Hang Seng Index performance and is Hong Kong’s most actively traded ETF, includes shares of sanctioned Chinese entities such as China Mobile Ltd. Hong Kong’s de facto central bank said that State Street Global Advisors Asia Ltd. should take all feasible and necessary measures to mitigate impacts on the fund.
