Elon Musk Asks Billionaire George Soros a Provocative Question (The Street)
Billionaire George Soros is a finance legend who has sparked a lot of absurd fantasies. He is, with Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft (MSFT), one of the personalities most targeted by fans of conspiracy theories. They see his influence almost everywhere. The American billionaire of Hungarian origin became a financial legend after a masterstroke in 1992. On Sept. 16, 1992, the pound sterling collapsed, forcing Great Britain to withdraw from the European Exchange Rate Mechanism. It was called Black Wednesday, aka the 1992 Sterling crisis.
Odey Profits Halve to £18.8m as Performance Fees Dry Up (CityA.M.)
Hedge fund boss Crispin Odey saw profits at Odey Asset Management more than halve last year after performance fees for the firm plunged, new filings reveal. Accounts released over the weekend revealed that profits at Odey Asset Management slumped to £18.8m in the financial year ending 5 April 2022, down from £39.7m a year previously. Profits have been dished out to members of the firm, with the highest earner pocketing some £5m compared to a bumper 2021 when fund manager James Hanbury was paid £15.6m.
Los Angeles-based Hedge Fund, Hedonova, Sees 2022 Returns Soar by 33% (PRNewswire)
Hedonova, an alternative investment fund with headquarters in Los Angeles, California, and offices across the globe, has recorded strong growth in returns as well as asset base. Hedonova generated returns of 32.8% post fees in 2022. In a short span of 3 years since its ambitious launch in 2019, Hedonova has seen exceptional growth in multiple avenues of its business. Assets under management increased from $160 million to $400 million. The fund generated post fees returns of 32.8% largely driven by its litigation finance and carbon credit holdings which, as separate asset classes, have generated returns of 58% and 265%. Startups and wine investments were the laggards in the portfolio losing 14% and 6% in 2022.
Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com
Founders of Bankrupt Three Arrows Capital Plan Trading Platform for Distressed Crypto Debt (The Wall Street Journal)
The founders of a bankrupt crypto hedge-fund firm are seeking to launch an exchange where creditors to insolvent digital-assets firms, including their own, would be able to buy and sell claims. Su Zhu, a co-founder of the bankrupt crypto hedge-fund manager Three Arrows Capital Ltd., said that he and others are seeking to raise $25 million in seed money for the new platform. A pitch deck to potential investors, seen by The Wall Street Journal, referred to the company as GTX, a poke at the fallen crypto exchange FTX.
Crossover Hedge Funds are Still Launching Despite a Rough 2022 (Financial News)
Hedge funds investing in fast-growing public and private companies lost tens of billions of clients’ money last year. That isn’t stopping more “crossover” funds from launching. Mala Gaonkar, 53 years old, a former co-investment chief of Lone Pine Capital, launched her New York-based crossover fund, SurgoCap Partners, on 3 January with $1.8bn, people familiar with her firm said.
‘It’s Very Clear Now’ FTX Committed Fraud, Says Hedge Fund CEO Anthony Scaramucci (The Daily Hodl)
Skybridge Capital chief executive Anthony Scaramucci is now convinced that collapsed crypto exchange FTX committed wrongdoing. Scaramucci had previously refrained from accusing FTX of crimes, saying he wanted to hold back from claiming they perpetuated “fraud” because it’s “actually a legal term.” But he now tells CNBC he thinks says it’s “very clear” FTX committed fraud. FTX purchased a 30% stake in Skybridge, an alternative investments firm, back in September. Scaramucci tells CNBC that Skybridge can buy back the stake but acknowledges that it will probably take months to facilitate the deal.
Why is Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Betting Big on China? (CMC Markets)
Equity hedge funds endured their worst annual performance since 2018 in 2022, according to data from Hedge Fund Research. But Bridgewater Associates’ multi-asset, all-weather approach in China helped it to become last year’s top foreign hedge fund. – Bridgewater’s main China fund has an annual return of 15.6% between October 2018 and October 2022 – Founder Ray Dalio says “the longer term picture in China is still bright” – Most emerging market ETFs have high exposure to Chinese equities. Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater doubled its assets under management to 20bn Chinese renminbi (￥), Reuters reported last week. Around ￥2.7bn of this was thanks to a new product that launched in December.
Opalesque Roundup: Hedge Funds Post Mixed Performance in December: Hedge Fund News, Week 02 (Opalesque.com)
In the week ending January 13th 2023, a report by HFR revealed that hedge funds posted mixed performance in December to conclude the volatile 2022, though still outperformed accelerating declines in equity and fixed income markets as investors positioned for continued macroeconomic uncertainty in 2023 driven by generational inflation, rising interest rates and possible economic slowdown. Cryptocurrencies also remained highly uncertain following the 4Q collapse of the FTX exchange platform. Meanwhile, some hedge funds that bet on macroeconomic trends boasted eye-popping double and even triple digit gains for 2022, investors said, while other prominent firms that were long on technology stocks got clobbered with deep losses in volatile markets.
Brazilian Hedge Funds Ditch Domestic Bets (Hedge Week)
Brazil’s top performing hedge funds have cut domestic wagers because of the country’s recent political problems and are instead betting on everything from a rally in crude prices, to short strategies for another slump in US stocks, according to a report by Bloomberg. The storming of government buildings in the country’s capital last week by rioters who refuse to accept the result of presidential elections won by Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is the most obvious example of the country’s political tensions and informs many fund managers’ current ‘conservative approach’ to domestic risk.
Friday 1/13 Insider Buying Report: TPL (Nasdaq.com)
On Tuesday, Texas Pacific Land’s Director, Murray Stahl, made a $43,383 buy of TPL, purchasing 21 shares at a cost of $2065.88 each. Texas Pacific Land is trading up about 0.6% on the day Friday. Before this latest buy, Stahl bought TPL at 248 other times during the past twelve months, for a total cost of $8.21M at an average of $1686.92 per share.
Conagra Brands, Keurig Dr Pepper And These 2 Stocks Insiders Are Selling (Benzinga)
Conagra Brands: The Trade: Conagra Brands, Inc. (CAG) SVP, Corporate Controller Robert Wise sold a total of 50,000 shares at an average price of $40.90. The insider received around $2.04 million from selling those shares. Keurig Dr Pepper: The Trade: Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (KDP) CEO and Executive Chairman James Robert Gamgort sold a total of 125,000 shares at an average price of $36.03. The insider received around $4.5 million as a result of the transaction.
