Alan Howard’s Hedge Fund Soars 100% in Virus-Fueled Chaos (Bloomberg)
Billionaire Alan Howard has doubled his investors’ money in the coronavirus crisis. The macro trader has returned about 100% this year in the hedge fund that he personally runs, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Most of the gain was in March when the pandemic sent the global markets into a tailspin, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. A spokesman for Jersey-based Brevan Howard Asset Management declined to comment.
Billionaire Cliff Asness Pegs AQR Rebound on ‘Largest Opportunity Ever’ in Value Stocks (Financial News)
AQR Capital Management‘s outspoken co-founder Cliff Asness says the systematic quantitative investing giant is seeking to profit from the “largest opportunity ever” in value investing in order to end its recent underwhelming performance. Value investors, who seek to profit from buying neglected stocks in companies trading at a discount, have struggled in recent years, with the performance difficulties extending into 2020. Hedge Fund Research’s Fundamental Value index is down 12.7% this year to the end of April.
D.E. Shaw Group Closes First Onshore China Investment Fund (SWFInstitute.org)
Quant hedge fund shop D.E. Shaw is betting big on luring Chinese investors. The hedge fund closed fundraising on its inaugural onshore investment fund, D.E. Shaw Razor China Fund, in China. The types of investors that were lured to the fund include asset managers, institutional investors, and high-net-worth investors. D.E. Shaw has been active in mainland China since the mid-2000s, with a presence in Shanghai for more than a decade. The D.E. Shaw Razor China Fund uses a systematic futures strategy. The fund launched in September after the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC) approved the firm’s Private Securities Investment Fund Manager (PFM) license for a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) in April 2019, enabling the firm to raise RMB-denominated funds from mainland Chinese investors to invest directly in markets in China.
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Here’s How Hedge Funds Are Investing In Cramer’s Covid-19 Index (TheStreet)
The coronavirus has created both near-term and long-term paradigm shifts for business and the economy. To reflect these evolving consumer and corporate dynamics, Jim Cramer created the Covid-19 index: a dynamic list of 100 companies that are best situated to adapt or gain during this changing landscape. 13F filings were recently released for the first quarter of 2020, and we wanted to see if hedge funds and institutions agreed with Cramer. Using analysis from 13F-tracking website WhaleWisdom, here’s a breakdown of hedge fund and institutional activity in the top 10 stocks in Cramer’s Covid-19 index.
Hildene Launches New Credit Fund (Institutional Investor)
Stamford, Connecticut hedge fund firm Hildene Capital Management, which specializes in stressed/distressed structured finance, recently completed the first close for a new hedge fund, according to a regulatory filing.The firm has also opened its two existing hedge funds to new investors. Hildene declined to comment.The new fund, called simply the…
Specialist Hedge Fund RessCapital Builds Consistent Gains with Esoteric Life Settlements Strategy (Hedge Week)
RessCapital, a specialist boutique hedge fund manager, is generating consistent uncorrelated returns with a novel investment strategy that focuses on the US life insurance industry. The Stockholm-based shop’s Ress Life Investment fund invests in the secondary market for US life insurance policies, where products no longer required by individual policyholders can be offloaded to third party brokers and brought to market to be traded at a discount.
Mangold Takes Another Bite of Kreditfonden (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – After increasing its stake in Skandinaviska Kreditfonden (SKF) from 20 percent to about 25 percent in 2016, Mangold AB upped its ownership stake in the Stockholm-based asset manager by an additional three percent to 27.5 percent. According to an announcement on Friday by Per-Anders Tammerlöv (pictured), “Mangold has today entered into an agreement to acquire an additional 3.0 percent of the shares in Skandinaviska Kreditfonden AB for a cash consideration of approximately SEK 2.3 million.” Mangold acquires the 3.0 percent-stake from a previous shareholder who decided to sell the stake in Skandinaviska Kreditfonden. Prior to the agreement, Mangold owned a stake of 24.5 percent in SKF.
Friday 5/29 Insider Buying Report: DVAX, OPRT (Nasdaq.com)
On Wednesday, Dynavax Technologies’s Director, Andrew A. F. Hack, made a $5M buy of DVAX, purchasing 1,000,000 shares at a cost of $5.00 a piece. Hack was up about 8.0% on the buy at the high point of today’s trading session, with DVAX trading as high as $5.40 in trading on Friday. Dynavax Technologies is trading up about 6.6% on the day Friday. And at Oportun Financial, there was insider buying on Thursday, by Chief Executive Officer Raul Vazquez who purchased 51,313 shares for a cost of $9.74 each, for a trade totaling $499,966. Oportun Financial Corporation is trading up about 4.8% on the day Friday. So far Vazquez is in the green, up about 7.8% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $10.50.
The Chief Exploration Officer of Pretium Resources (NYSE: PVG) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Today, the Chief Exploration Officer of Pretium Resources (PVG), Kenneth C Mcnaughton, bought shares of PVG for $4.09M. Following this transaction Kenneth C Mcnaughton’s holding in the company was increased by 353% to a total of $4.18 million. This is Mcnaughton’s first Buy trade following 17 Sell transactions.
Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc (CFR) Chairman and CEO Phillip D Green Sold $876,490 of Shares (Guru Focus)
Chairman and CEO of Cullen/frost Bankers Inc., Phillip D Green, sold 11,580 shares of CFR on 05/27/2020 at an average price of $75.69 a share. The total sale was $876,490. Cullen/Frost Bankers Inc is a financial holding company and a bank holding company. It provides a range of products and services throughout Texas markets, with a concentration on the major metropolitan areas.
