Crispin Odey Cuts Business Ties to His Family in Further Retreat (Bloomberg)
Crispin Odey has stepped back from several companies connected to his family, marking the hedge fund founder’s latest retreat from business activities following sexual harassment allegations. Odey, 64, resigned this month as a director of three UK companies that oversee assets for his adult children, according to registry filings. One of the firms holds an investment in UK asset manager Ruffer.
Schonfeld’s Growing Pains: Ryan Tolkin Reckons with his Greatest Challenge Yet as Returns Dry Up at the $13 Billion Hedge Fund (Business Insider)
When it was raising fresh money from investors in 2020, one slide on the pitch deck for the hedge fund Schonfeld Strategic Advisors got to the heart of the issue: “Why Schonfeld?” “Talent is our strategy.” That tagline has long been the rallying cry at Schonfeld. Even as the firm blossomed from a low-key family-investment office to a hedge-fund giant with nearly $15 billion in assets and a headcount of over 950, it has leaned into the collegial DNA that separates it from hard-nosed, unsentimental rivals such as Millennium and Citadel.
United States: Limited Partner Exception Challenged By Hedge Fund Legend (Mondaq.com)
An investment management firm founded and owned by legendary investor (and New York Mets owner) Steve Cohen on August 11 filed a petition in Tax Court contesting an IRS audit adjustment in the amount of $344,063,484 for tax years 2015 and 2016. The adjustment relates to the IRS’s assertion that the taxpayer, Point72 Asset Management, LP (“Point72”), incorrectly reported $0 as its net earnings from self-employment. At stake is over $13 million dollars in taxes, not counting interest and any potential penalties. For the years in dispute, Point72 was owned .01% by Point72 Capital Advisors, Inc. (“Advisors”), an S corporation wholly owned by Mr. Cohen, and 99.99% by Point72 Capital Holdings, LP (“Holdings”), a limited partnership owned .01% by Advisors and 99.99% by Mr. Cohen.
Photo by Marga Santoso on Unsplash
Activist Hedge Fund Starboard Value Buys Stake in Tampa’s Bloomin’ Brands (Biz Journals)
A corporate shakeup may be on the horizon for Tampa’s multibillion-dollar restaurant company Bloomin’ Brands. Starboard Value, the New York hedge fund behind the makeovers of Olive Garden and Papa John’s, bought a minority stake in Bloomin’ that amounts to nearly 10% voting power, according to a document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week. Starboard CEO and Founder Jeff Smith hinted at interest in reentering the restaurant industry during an interview with CNBC late last month, saying underpriced stocks in the sector presented several opportunities. In March, Smith stepped down as chairman at Papa John’s after a four-year overhaul of the company.
US SEC Readies Vote on Regulatory Overhaul for Private Funds (Reuters)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is expected on Wednesday to finalize rules overhauling private fund disclosure requirements, banning certain fees and introducing other changes for the industry representing $20 trillion in assets. The changes, first proposed in February 2022, would require hedge funds and private equity firms to detail all fees and expenses on a quarterly basis, ban charging customers for unperformed services or for adviser examination, and lower the bar for investors to sue fund managers. Fund advisers, even those not registered with the agency, would be prohibited from conflicts of interest or giving any investor preferential treatment without disclosing it.
Pershing Square Trails S&P 500 in H1 2023 (Hedge Week)
Pershing Square, the US equities hedge fund founded by Bill Ackman, underperformed in the first half of the year, partly due to efforts to protect the firm against rises in long-term inflation, according to a report by CityWire. The $10.7bn (£8.4bn) FTSE 100-listed investment firm generated a total underlying return of 10% in the first six months of 2023, behind the US stock market, with the S&P 500 index gaining 16.9% over the same period. With the firm’s discount to net asset values (NAV) also widening to 36.12%, prompting the board to buy back shares worth $55.4m, shareholders only received a 5.4% return.
Funds Ditch $11B of China’s Blue-Chip Stocks in 13 Days (Investment News)
Fears of economic contagion from housing market are driving investors out of the mainland market. Global investors have been shedding China’s blue-chip stocks during the longest stretch of outflows on record, showing even the nation’s industry leaders are falling out of favor as a rout deepens. Foreign investors sold 6.2 billion yuan ($851 million) of Kweichow Moutai Co. from Aug. 7 to Aug. 18, making China’s largest liquor maker the most heavily sold stock via trading links with Hong Kong. It was followed by 4.7 billion yuan of selling each for leading renewables stock LONGi Green Energy Technology Co. and major lender China Merchants Bank Co., according to the latest data on individual stocks available on Bloomberg.
Och Slams Sculptor Proxy in Demand for Merger Books, Records (1) (Bloomberg Law)
Dan Och is demanding that Sculptor Capital Management release books and records to investigate how the hedge fund firm he founded chose Rithm Capital Corp. as its merger partner. A Sculptor proxy statement this week “appears to present a narrative that is misleading and incomplete,” Och and four other former executives said Tuesday in a filing. It shows that a special committee of the firm “remains beholden to management and is failing to act in the best interests of shareholders.”
Wednesday 8/23 Insider Buying Report: MRCY, KNTK (Nasdaq.com)
At Mercury Systems, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Friday, CEO William L. Ballhaus bought 39,925 shares of MRCY, at a cost of $37.57 each, for a total investment of $1.5M. Ballhaus was up about 8.3% on the buy at the high point of today’s trading session, with MRCY trading as high as $40.68 in trading on Wednesday. Mercury Systems is trading up about 5.4% on the day Wednesday. This buy marks the first one filed by Ballhaus in the past year. And on Monday, Jamie Welch bought $286,325 worth of Kinetik Holdings, buying 8,125 shares at a cost of $35.24 each. Before this latest buy, Welch bought KNTK on 3 other occasions during the past year, for a total investment of $1.31M at an average of $35.03 per share. Kinetik Holdings Inc is trading trading flat on the day Wednesday.
Electronic Arts, Tractor Supply And 2 Other Stocks Insiders Are Selling (Benzinga)
Tractor Supply: The Trade: Tractor Supply Company (TSCO) EVP Chief Financial Officer Kurt D Barton sold a total of 7,487 shares at an average price of $222.43. The insider received around $1.67 million from selling those shares. Electronic Arts: The Trade: Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) Director Luis A Ubinas sold a total of 2,004 shares at an average price of $122.06. The insider received around $244,604 from selling those shares.
