New Breath of Life for Celina Hedgefond (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Celina Hedgefond, once a €1.4 billion Catella fund whose portfolio maintains low enough risk to inspire comparisons to a bond investment, delivered a near zero return to investors over the six years ending 2021. Up 5.3 percent so far in 2022, the low-risk multi-strategy hedge fund has received a new breath of life since the appointment of Bodenholm founder Per Johansson as the CIO of the fund’s management company – now in the process of being acquired by Case Group.
Big Short Investor Burry Warns of ‘Last Hurrah’ (Investing.com)
Michael Burry, the well-known “Big Short” investor, warned that recent positive earnings reports might be the last for a while as economic uncertainty continues. Burry, the founder of hedge fund Scion Capital, is famous for being one of the first investors to predict and profit from the subprime mortgage crisis. He has become increasingly bearish on current market conditions, previously warning that inflation poses a fresh threat to markets and that geopolitical tensions, labor shortages, and supply chain difficulties would “raise long-term inflation’s floor.”
Point72 Expands Global Economics Team with Key Hires in New York and London (Hedge Week)
Point72 has expanded its economics team with the addition of Sophia Drossos as economist and strategist based in New York, and Soeren Radde as head of European economic research, based in London. Drossos will cover US and global economic and policy developments, while Radde will analyse and forecast the euro area and UK economies. They join Point72’s existing team of economists, led by Head Economist Dean Maki, and also including Joy Yang, the Firm’s head of Asian economic research based in Singapore.
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How the Chief of Staff of a $5 Billion Hedge Fund Focused on Crypto and Blockchain is Influencing Policy and Legislation on Digital Assets (Business Insider)
Emma Rose Bienvenu wears a lot of hats at one of the oldest cryptocurrency and blockchain-focused hedge funds in the industry. As chief of staff of $5 billion Pantera Capital, Bienvenu spends half her time working directly with the firm’s chief investment officer, Joey Krug, helping to deploy capital and keeping a close eye on the markets. The other half is dedicated to interfacing with regulators and elected officials to help them understand how the cryptocurrency landscape intersects with securities law.
Cathie Wood Dumps Coinbase Shares for First Time This Year (Bloomberg)
Funds controlled by Cathie Wood dumped Coinbase Global Inc.’s stock for the first time this year as the the largest US crypto exchange faces a probe. Three Ark Investment Management LLC funds sold slightly over 1.41 million shares, which were worth about $75 million as of Tuesday’s close, according to Ark’s daily trading data compiled by Bloomberg. The firm’s flagship Ark Innovation ETF sold 1.13 million shares.
Why Activist Hedge Fund Elliott Management is Targeting PayPal (Financial News)
Payments giant PayPal finally has attracted an activist. PayPal had been a pandemic darling as households increasingly shopped online but shares have slid more than 60% this year as people returned to their pre-pandemic spending habits. Earlier this year, the company cut its 2022 earnings forecast, which led to the company’s worst one-day selloff in its history as a publicly traded company.
Alex Lasry Drops Out of U.S. Senate Democratic Primary in Wisconsin (The Wall Street Journal)
Son of Marc Lasry, a billionaire and co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team, had invested $12.3 million of his own money in the campaign. Alex Lasry dropped out of the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Wisconsin on Wednesday, a departure that could boost Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes ahead of the Aug. 9 primary in a contest to determine Republican Sen. Ron Johnson’s challenger in November. The former Goldman Sachs analyst and son of Marc Lasry, a billionaire hedge-fund manager and co-owner of the Milwaukee Bucks basketball team, had invested at least $12.3 million of his own money in the campaign.
Citadel CEO Ken Griffin Lists Chicago Condos for $13M and $16M as He Prepares to Move his Hedge Fund to Miami (The Chicago Tribune)
Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder and CEO of hedge fund Citadel LLC who recently announced plans to relocate his firm and his family from Chicago to Miami, has begun making good on his word. Late Tuesday Griffin listed two full-floor penthouse condominium units he owns at the top of the Park Tower on North Michigan Avenue for $15.75 million and $13.25 million, respectively. Griffin had not been living in the two Park Tower units recently, although he previously did inhabit the top-floor unit. His legal residence of late has been a full-floor unit on the 37th floor of the Waldorf Astoria building on the Gold Coast, which he bought in 2014 for $13.3 million.
Wednesday 7/27 Insider Buying Report: JEF, CAG (Nasdaq.com)
At Jefferies Group, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Monday, Thomas W. Jones bought 40,000 shares of JEF, at a cost of $31.21 each, for a total investment of $1.25M. Jones was up about 2.0% on the buy at the high point of today’s trading session, with JEF trading as high as $31.82 at last check today. Jefferies Group is trading up about 1.8% on the day Wednesday. Before this latest buy, Jones made one other purchase in the past year, buying $334,800 shares at a cost of $33.48 a piece. And at Conagra Brands, there was insider buying on Monday, by Director Emanuel Chirico who purchased 30,000 shares for a cost of $34.06 each, for a total investment of $1.02M. Conagra Brands is trading down about 2.1% on the day Wednesday.
Buyout Funds Scoop Up Tech Companies in P2P Deals (Preqin)
Buyout giants make strides to bring public companies under their control, looking to unlock value and future-proof portfolios. Private equity’s appetite for taking public companies private has been strong over the past 18 months. Buyout funds are bidding high, particularly in the tech sector where software companies have been prime targets. What is motivating these moves, who is involved, and where could it go wrong? Through the first half of 2022, $96bn in public-to-private deals have been announced or completed. This is well on pace to surpass last year’s record $118bn.
Cerberus Hires Deutsche Bank to Sell Debt Collector Haya (Bloomberg)
Cerberus Capital Management, the US private equity firm, is planning to sell its Spanish debt-servicing company Haya Real Estate, according to people familiar with the matter. Cerberus, known for its investments in distressed companies, is working with Deutsche Bank AG to prepare a sale of company as soon as September, they said, asking not to be identified because talks are private.
$5.1 Million Bet On Tabula Rasa HealthCare? 3 Penny Stocks Insiders Are Buying (Benzinga)
Tabula Rasa HealthCare: The Trade: Tabula Rasa HealthCare, Inc. (TRHC) 10% owner Derek Schrier acquired a total of 1,293,292 shares at an average price of $3.97. To acquire these shares, it cost around $5.14 million.
Insider Trading Cases Are on the Rise. Credit the SEC’s Computers. (Barron’s)
It looks like the SEC has cranked up its insider-trading detectors. Federal prosecutors and securities regulators unsealed four separate insider-trading cases on Monday. Those arrested included a former U.S. Congressman, a former investment banker at Goldman Sachs Group, a Silicon Valley firm’s former information security chief, and an agent-in-training for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
