TCI, Third Point Among Finalists for Hedge Fund Industry Awards (InstitutionalInvestor.com)
The hedge fund industry produced its best returns of the past five years in 2017 – but several managers outshone their peers even by those standards. The average hedge fund returned 8.5 percent last year, according to data tracker HFR. Christopher Hohn beat that handily – by nearly 20 percentage points, in fact. His firm TCI Fund Management produced a gain of 28.3 percent in its flagship hedge fund, according to Institutional Investor’s Alpha, one of several reasons TCI is being nominated for Institutional Investor and Institutional Investor’s Alpha’s 16th annual Hedge Fund Industry Awards.
Struggling Hedge Fund Exec John Burbank Nixes Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (BABA) (SmarterAnalyst.com)
It is a rough time to be 53-year-old John Burbank, founder of Passport Capital and the man who once knew the dice to play in the mortgage crisis- a man who once reaped a full gravy train amid the global financial crisis. Yet, this was 2006, where by 2007 Burbank’s hedge fund firm earned 220%. Present-day, Passport’s assets are a far cry from the golden days of roughly $5 billion in assets. It is no wonder that Burbank is making big moves in Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) as he struggles to rebound from a crisis he did not anticipate this time around.
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Billionaire Tom Steyer to Kick off National Series of Democratic Debates in Lehigh Valley Congressional District (MCall.com)
California billionaire Tom Steyer’s latest effort in boosting Democrats this election cycle is a series of primary debates in competitive contests across the country, starting with the Lehigh Valley’s congressional race. Steyer’s advocacy group, NextGen America, says it will hold a Democratic primary debate on April 12 with candidates running in the 7th Congressional District, which includes Lehigh and Northampton counties and part of southern Monroe.
In Italy, Activist Investors Find a Happy Hunting Ground (Reuters)
MILAN (Reuters) – When U.S. activist investor Elliott Advisers laid siege to Italy’s dominant phone company this month, a shiver went through the country’s corporate sector. Once a gentile club that resolved its problems in quiet, behind closed doors, corporate Italy is increasingly becoming prey for activist shareholders. North American and British investors, who favor more aggressive investment styles, have been steadily building their presence in Italy as its cosy network of cross-shareholdings has broken down following the global financial crisis.
Man Group Hires Former CQS Credit Specialist (FNLondon.com)
The former chief investment officer at hedge fund CQS Cayman LP has emerged at rival Man Group after 18 months out of the industry. Simon Finch, who quit CQS in September 2016 after 12 years at the firm, is joining Man GLG as its CIO of credit and will be in charge of that business, the company said this week. In the newly-created role, Finch will have oversight of the credit portfolio management teams. In 2015, CQS won the prize for Best Hedge Fund Manager in Fixed Income and Credit at the FN Asset Management Awards, Europe for the third year running. The strategy that won the award was overseen by Finch.
