Breakingviews – Capital Calls – Carl Icahn’s New Reconstructionist (Reuters)
NEW YORK (Reuters Breakingviews) – DEALING AND WHEELING. Carl Icahn’s listed fund has a new leading man. The 85-year-old hedge fund manager has tapped Aris Kekedjian, General Electric’s former chief investment officer, to run Icahn Enterprises, the company said on Monday. Kekedjian spent three decades at GE, both building up and breaking down the firm. His name was on transformative deals including the oil and gas division’s merger with Baker Hughes as well as the dismantling of GE Capital.
Tribune Says New $681 Million Proposal Likely to Top Alden’s (Bloomberg)
Tribune Publishing Co. will talk with a group that has offered $680.8 million for the newspaper publisher, saying it will likely beat out an accepted $634.8 million takeover offer from hedge fund Alden Global Capital. A nonbinding bid of $18.50 a share in cash from Newslight, as Choice Hotels International Inc. Chairman Stewart Bainum Jr. and Swiss billionaire Hansjoerg Wyss have named their group, is likely to lead to a superior proposal under the terms of the Alden merger agreement, Tribune said in a statement Monday.
US Money Market Funds See Heavy Inflows for Second Week: Lipper (Business Recorder)
The prospect of losses for US banks, following hedge fund Archegos Capital‘s default on margin calls, also had market participants concerned. US money market funds received a net $50.35 billion in the week to March 31, after an over $60 billion inflow in the previous week, data from Refinitiv Lipper showed.
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Opalesque Roundup: Inflows and Performance Lift Hedge Fund AUM to Over $3.4 Trillion: Hedge Fund News, Week 13 (Opalesque)
In the week ending April 2nd 2021, eVestment Hedge Fund Asset Flows Report said that global hedge funds continued their strong start to 2021 with elevated asset flows in February. Positive flows for the industry in February have been the norm since 2009, but the $16.44 billion investors added to hedge funds last month, coupled with January’s inflows, made this the best two-month start for the business since 2014. Strong performance in January and February was also a plus, bringing the hedge fund industry’s overall AUM to $3.407 trillion. Meanwhile, the HFM Long/Short Equity Composite is up 6.0% YTD through February 2021, overtaking the S&P 500 on a 12-month basis after another strong month. The HFM Managed Futures Composite Index was up 3.0% in February, after posting -0.2% in January, as the average CTA returned to positive territory YTD (2.8%).
Leon Black Exits Hedge Fund Over Alleged Ties To Jefrey Epstein (CelebrityNetWorth)
Billionaire financier Leon Black is stepping down from running Apollo Global Management, the private equity firm he co-founded in the 1990s in the wake of allegations over his ties to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Black has stepped down as CEO and also will no longer be chairman of the firm. Marc Rowan, Apollos co-founder, will become the new CEO while the former chairman of the SEC, Jay Clayton, has been made Apollo’s non-executive chairman. Black remains the largest shareholder of Apollo. All of this has come down since Apollo announced in January they were undertaking an internal investigation into Black’s reported ties to Epstein. The probe interviewed more than 20 people and produced more than 60,000 documents, found no wrongdoing despite the fact that Black paid $158 million to Epstein in the years between 2012 and 2017.
‘I’m Not in It for One-Year Revenues’: Mets Owner Steve Cohen Talks Future, Lindor Extension, More (AMNY)
New York Mets owner Steve Cohen had it all the way – at least that’s the mindset he put forth when discussing the contract extension negotiations with Francisco Lindor. The hedge-fund billionaire spoke just hours before his team’s delayed Opening Day on Monday; just minutes after the club officially announced that it had inked Lindor to a 10-year, $341 million contract extension.
Last Week’s Notable Insider Buys: PennyMac Financial, Republic Services And More (Benzinga)
DigitalOcean Holdings Inc (DOCN) saw an insider, listed as an associate of a 10% owner, indirectly acquire just shy of $100 million worth of shares. That was more than 2.12 million shares of this cloud computing company at an initial public offering price of $47 apiece. The stock ended the week at $43.80 per share. Florida-based marketing company Digital Media Solutions Inc (DMS) also saw a recent big insider purchase. One of its directors picked up more than 5.62 million shares at a price of $9.49 apiece. That cost that director more than $53.37 million, and it lifted his stake to over 7.62 million shares, which makes him a beneficial owner.
Monday 4/5 Insider Buying Report: RCUS, PRPL (Nasdaq.com)
At Arcus Biosciences, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Wednesday, Director Kathryn E. Falberg purchased 20,000 shares of RCUS, at a cost of $28.35 each, for a total investment of $566,996. Falberg was up about 12.1% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with RCUS trading as high as $31.79 in trading on Monday. Arcus Biosciences is trading up about 10.3% on the day Monday. And also on Wednesday, Director Gary Alan Kiedaisch purchased $149,800 worth of Purple Innovation, purchasing 5,000 shares at a cost of $29.96 a piece. This purchase marks the first one filed by Kiedaisch in the past twelve months. Purple Innovation is trading up about 4.2% on the day Monday. Kiedaisch was up about 9.9% on the buy at the high point of today’s trading session, with PRPL trading as high as $32.94 in trading on Monday.
Starbucks Corp (SBUX) president and ceo Kevin R Johnson Sold $16.7 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
President and ceo of Starbucks Corp, Kevin R Johnson, sold 153,290 shares of SBUX on 04/01/2021 at an average price of $109.12 a share. The total sale was $16.7 million. Starbucks Corp is the roaster, marketer and retailer of specialty coffee in the world, operating globally. It sells a variety of coffee and tea products. It sells goods and services under brands including Teavana, Tazo, and Seattle’s Best Coffee. Starbucks Corp has a market cap of $128.77 billion; its shares were traded at around $109.380000 with a P/E ratio of 195.32 and P/S ratio of 5.56.
Insider Trading: April 5, 2021 (BIV.com)
Insider Randy Smallwood, officer. Company: Wheaton Precious Metals Corp. (TSX:WPM). Shares owned: 303,750. Trade date: March 19. Trade total: $1,981,458. Trade: Sale of 40,200 shares at a price of $49.29 per share. Insider Pierre Lassonde, 10% owner. Company: Prime Mining Corp. (TSX-V:PRYM). Shares owned: 6,600,000. Trade date: March 19. Trade total: $1,515,000. Trade: Acquisition of 500,000 shares at a price of $3.03 per share.
The Executive VP of Operations of UniFirst (NYSE: UNF) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Today, the Executive VP of Operations of UniFirst (UNF), David Difillippo, bought shares of UNF for $285.3K. Following this transaction David Difillippo’s holding in the company was increased by 23.09% to a total of $2.6 million. In addition to David Difillippo, 2 other UNF executives reported Buy trades in the last month. The company has a one-year high of $258.86 and a one-year low of $132.61. UNF’s market cap is $4.24 billion and the company has a P/E ratio of 26.30.
