Occidental Slams Icahn Board Slate as Lacking Skills, Expertise (Reuters)
(Reuters) – Occidental Petroleum Corp (OXY.N) on Monday sharply criticized activist investor Carl Icahn’s efforts to oust and replace four of its directors, and attacked his slate of board nominees as inadequate for the job. Icahn, who owns 4.4% stake in the Houston-based oil and gas producer, launched a proxy fight last week, arguing that the company overpaid for Anadarko Petroleum (APC.N) and failed to give shareholders a say in the proposed $38 billion deal. The proxy fight is unlikely to stop the Anadarko deal, but would influence the pace and direction of billions of dollars of asset sales that will result after the acquisition closes.
Ray Dalio, Who Just Made a Big Gold Recommendation, is Missing the 2019 Market Comeback (CNBC)
Bridgewater’s Pure Alpha fund, which tries to follow and capitalize on macroeconomic trends, lost 4.9% in the six months ended June 30, the FT reports. The hedge fund, founded by Ray Dalio, reportedly suffered tough losses in January but has recoup some of that decline in July. The Pure Alpha fund was down more than 4% through the end of June, while the S&P 500 was up more than 17% over the same period. Bridgewater Associates’ flagship fund reportedly posted one of its worst first-half performances in two decades, as global equity and bond markets rebounded on expectations of looser monetary policy.
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Acacia Investor Odey to Back Barrick’s Final Offer (Reuters)
(Reuters) – British hedge fund Odey Asset Management said on Monday it intends to vote, on behalf of its clients, in favor of Barrick Gold Corp’s (ABX.TO) (GOLD.N) final offer to buy out its fellow shareholders in Acacia Mining (ACAA.L). The approval comes after Odey said last month that it would reject any offer from Barrick for its stake in Acacia that is framed as “best and final”. Odey holds a 2.31% stake in Acacia according to Refinitiv Eikon data.
Scaramucci Creates a Second Act (TauntonGazette.com)
It’s early to be on cable news, but really, it’s early to be anywhere. It’s 5:56 a.m., yet neither the hour nor the darkly lit green room deters Anthony Scaramucci from firing on all cylinders, by which I mean schmoozing and cracking jokes and asking people for selfies. As his wife had warned me: “He’s nuts, even early in the morning.” Scaramucci, the (short-lived) former White House communications director, simply loves to talk. He commiserates about the Mets with a production guy (“Dude, what’s going on with our team?”), asks the woman patting concealer under his eyes about her young son (“When was his birthday? God bless him.”).
Woodford Sells Activist Fund and Pumps £10m into Atom Bank (Citywire.co.uk)
Embattled Neil Woodford has injected an additional £10 million in digital bank Atom and sold his 16% stake in activist fund Crystal Amber. Woodford joined fellow Atom investors – Spanish bank BBVA, hedge fund Toscafund and private equity veteran John Moulton in backing a £50 million fundraise by the bank. The investment was made through Woodford Patient Capital Trust (WPCT) whose shares slipped 1.3p or 2.4% to 52.7p on unease at the funding commitments the trust faces following the suspension of Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF) seven weeks ago.
Investors Withdraw $44bn from Hedge Funds But Some Strategies Benefit from Inflows (Opalesque.com)
Investors pulled $16.43bn from the hedge fund industry in June, bringing year-to-date (YTD) outflows to -$44.61bn, said eVestment. According to June 2019 eVestment Hedge Fund Asset Flows report, overall industry AUM stood at $3.273tn in June. 57% of reporting managers had net redemptions, and the month capped off the fifth consecutive quarter of industry redemptions in June, said the report. However, that also means that in June 43% of managers had inflows or were flat. For hedge funds managers, this highlights the importance of having a compelling marketing and investor relations message that highlights performance, expertise and other elements that set one fund apart from another.
Nordic Hedge Fund Country Report Q2/2019 (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – HedgeNordic is pleased to present the “Nordic hedge fund space: country-by-country report” for the second quarter of 2019. This report highlights the main developments, top performers, largest hedge funds, and other statistics in each of the four Nordic countries. In the second quarter of 2019, Nordic hedge funds as expressed by the Nordic Hedge Index gained 0.7 percent on average. Danish and Finnish hedge funds performed the strongest during the quarter, with both groups booking an average gain of more than one percent. Swedish hedge funds, accounting for more than half of all members in the Nordic Hedge Index, were up 0.5 percent on average in the second quarter. Norwegian hedge funds, meanwhile, fell 0.3 percent on average.
More than 70 Hedge Funds Adopt SS&C Eze Eclipse Patform (Hedge Week)
Eze Eclipse, SS&C Eze’s front-to-back office investment management platform, has signed on more than 70 hedge fund clients. Eze Eclipse, a born-in-the-cloud platform, has been adopted by hedge funds looking to expand their business capabilities, optimise operational efficiency and minimise total cost of ownership. Recent upgrades include automatic requests for locates, flexible charting of accounts to match trial balance/general ledger with multiple administrators, enhanced reconciliation, streamlined swap templates, custom equity basket support and commission tracking.
Monday 7/22 Insider Buying Report: KALV, DXC (Nasdaq.com)
At KalVista Pharmaceuticals (KALV), a filing with the SEC revealed that on Friday, Director Albert Cha bought 61,280 shares of KALV, for a cost of $17.79 each, for a total investment of $1.09M. So far Cha is in the green, up about 5.0% on their buy based on today’s trading high of $18.69. KalVista Pharmaceuticals is trading up about 6% on the day Monday. Before this latest buy, Cha made one other purchase in the past twelve months, buying $18.00M shares for a cost of $17.00 each.
SEBI Revises Guidance Note On Insider Trading Norms (Bloomberg)
Listed companies, intermediaries and fiduciaries who handle unpublished price-sensitive information are required to maintain a digital database of persons and entities with whom such details are shared, the Securities and Exchange Board of India has clarified. The regulator on July 5 revised its guidance note on insider trading norms to provide clarity on requirement of maintaining structured digital database of persons and entities with whom UPSI is shared, and the scope of investment company, according to a circular released by the market regulator on Monday. The regulator released the guidance note to remove certain difficulties in the interpretation or application of the provisions of the insider trading norms.
Servisfirst Bancshares Inc (SFBS) EVP, Regional CEO Bradford Alan Vieira Sold $547,269 of Shares (Guru Focus)
EVP, Regional CEO of Servisfirst Bancshares Inc (30-Year Financial, Insider Trades) Bradford Alan Vieira (insider trades) sold 16,484 shares of SFBS on 07/18/2019 at an average price of $33.2 a share. The total sale was $547,269. Servisfirst Bancshares Inc is a bank holding company. It offers commercial, consumer and other loans and accepts deposits, provides electronic banking services, deliver treasury and cash management services. Servisfirst Bancshares Inc has a market cap of $1.75 billion; its shares were traded at around $32.68 with a P/E ratio of 12.44 and P/S ratio of 6.17. The dividend yield of Servisfirst Bancshares Inc stocks is 1.70%. GuruFocus has detected 1 severe warning sign with Servisfirst Bancshares Inc.
Notable Insider Buys This Past Week: DXC Technology, HealthEquity (Benzinga)
Below is a look at a couple of notable insider purchases reported in the past week, but also note that an insider bought some FedEx Corporation (FDX) 1.52% shares while others were exercising options and selling. HealthEquity: Healthequity Inc (HQY) 0.28% CEO Jon Kessler, founder Stephen Neeleman and two other directors took advantage of a public offering of shares. At $61.00 apiece, the 40,000 shares acquired altogether totaled $2.44 million. Note that two other insiders exercised options on almost 16,000 shares of this health savings accounts custodian as well.
Insider Activity: President and CEO at DXC Technology (DXC) Buys $234k in Stock (Investors Observer)
John M Lawrie, President and CEO at DXC Technology (DXC), bought 4,166 shares of the company’s common stock on Jul 18. At $56.26 per share, Lawrie paid a total of $234,384 for the new shares.
