Billionaire Investor Carl Icahn is Placing a Big Bet Against Struggling Mall Owners, Report Says (CNBC)
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn is placing a $400 million bet against struggling malls, taking on two of the largest investment firms, according to The Wall Street Journal. Icahn stands to make millions if mall owners are unable to pay off their debts, people familiar with the matter told the Journal. Icahn has placed his bet in recent months and suffered early losses, sources told the publication. Traders in market told the Journal that Icahn “likely is the largest short seller of mall debt.”
This Billionaire Money Manager Bought 6 Cannabis Stocks in the Third Quarter (The Motley Fool)
One year ago, marijuana stocks were all the buzz on Wall Street. In October 2018, Canada became the first industrialized country in the modern era to green-light the sale of recreational cannabis, with the expectation that derivative pot products (vapes, edibles, infused beverages, and so on) would go on sale by no later than October 2019. We’d also been witnessing plenty of momentum in the U.S., where new states were legalizing medical and/or recreational weed. But the green rush has mostly gone up in smoke in 2019. Supply issues have hit the Canadian marijuana market hard, while select U.S. markets have been pulverized by high tax rates and a persistent black-market presence. Perhaps no collective group of stocks has performed worse this year than pot stocks. And yet, during the third quarter, billionaire money manager Jim Simons, founder of the Renaissance Technologies hedge fund, added to or opened positions in six cannabis stocks.
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Chicago Tribune’s New Investor Is Hedge Fund Known for Layoffs (Bloomberg)
Tribune Publishing Co. soared as much as 15% after Alden Global Capital LLC, a hedge fund known for making deep cuts to newsrooms, bought out the newspaper company’s largest stockholder. Shares of the company, which publishes the namesake Chicago Tribune and other big-city newspapers, traded as high as $11.20 after Alden purchased 9.07 million shares from Michael Ferro and his Merrick Ventures for about $118 million. Tribune is in talks with Alden to put two of its representatives on the board, the company said Tuesday.
Fund Manager Outlook: Private Equity in Japan (Preqin.com)
As appetite for private equity continues to grow among the universe of investors in Japan -spearheaded by maiden investments from major institutional investors such as Government Pension Investment Fund and Japan Post Bank – fund managers are facing huge opportunity, provided they can successfully navigate the competition for capital. To better understand the current market trends and domestic private equity environment, Preqin surveyed over 50 private equity fund managers located in Japan. This factbook presents the key findings from our exclusive survey: in this growing market, how do managers feel about valuations, deal-making and ESG?
Other Michael Cohen Also Going To Jail (Deal Breaker)
President Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen is reportedly living it up at the minimum-security federal resort in the Catskills. This is good news for his former colleagues (Rudy Giuliani in particular, after this morning), but also for his namesake, former hedge fund manager at the former Och-Ziff Capital Management Michael Cohen. The former European head of Och-Ziff Capital Management Group was sentenced to three months behind bars for his role in a bribery scandal involving more than $100 million that was paid to government officials across Africa.
Hedge Fund Redemption Trend Extends to Four Months in September as Industry Experiences $14.7 Billion in Outflows, According to Backstop BarclayHedge (PRWeb.com)
The hedge fund industry’s redemption trend continued in September as a fourth straight month of net outflows saw monthly redemptions increasing to $14.7 billion. September’s redemptions represented 0.5% of hedge fund industry assets and were up from August’s $11.3 billion in net outflows, according to the Barclay Fund Flow Indicator published by BarclayHedge, a division of Backstop Solutions. Coupled with a $9.1 billion trading profit in September, hedge fund industry assets stood at more than $3.05 trillion at the end of the month.
Physician Prepping Healthcare Vehicle (HFAlert.com)
An immunologist who swapped a career in medical research for finance 10 years ago will begin trading on Dec. 1 via his own hedge fund. Ting Jia’s Octagon Investments fund is set to launch with as much as $300 million of day-one capital, a source said. Jia has hired Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan to clear trades. He plans to focus on the stocks of healthcare companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Jia began laying the groundwork for the fund when he formed New York-based Octagon Advisors last year. Before striking out on his own, he worked from 2015 to 2018 at Hillhouse Capital, heading the Hong Kong private equity shop’s New York office. Jia, a managing director at Hillhouse, primarily oversaw the firm’s investments in the life-sciences sector.
Sightway Capital Closes First Fund with $1.2 billion (Pensions&Investments)
Sightway Capital, the private equity business of Two Sigma Investments, held a final close on Sightway Capital I, the company said in a news release. The fund, which makes direct private investments in emerging companies in financial services and real assets, closed on $1.2 billion in commitments. Investors include the $76 billion Massachusetts Pension Reserves Investment Management Board, Boston. Sightway Capital spokeswoman Brittany Cash could not be immediately reached for additional information.
