Millennium Set to Open Two More Offices in Tax-Friendly Florida (Bloomberg)
Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management will open two more offices in Florida as its staff joins a growing southward migration. The $50 billion hedge fund firm will have outposts in Miami and West Palm Beach, according to a person familiar with the matter. The move is mostly driven by its portfolio managers’ preference for the state, which doesn’t tax income, estates or capital gains. Meanwhile, top earners in New York City face among the highest state and local taxes in the U.S.
Billionaire Investor Dan Loeb Praised SPACs, Revealed His Winning Bets, and Predicted a Surge in Risky Debt in His Latest Investor Letter (Business Insider)
Billionaire investor Dan Loeb praised special-purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), touted his lucrative bets on private companies, and delivered a bullish market outlook in his latest letter to investors. The Third Point chief highlighted the record number and size of SPAC announcements in the first quarter of this year. He welcomed the recent correction in that market as it relieved “some of the excesses evident in speculative deals.” Moreover, he noted threats of stricter regulation “took some of the wind out of the SPAC market’s sails.”
Hedge Funds Face Backlash From Europe in Bond Market (The Wall Street Journal)
European governments are acting to limit hedge funds’ participation in the market for new sovereign-bond issuance, following a surge in demand from the firms. The pushback was prompted by unusually large orders placed by hedge funds for new bonds, which can then potentially be sold – sometimes within hours – to the European Central Bank for a profit, bankers, investors and a government official said.
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Starboard Puts Forth Box Board Slate Saying Promises Unkept (Bloomberg)
Activist investor Starboard Value has nominated a minority slate for the board of Box Inc. that will pit its nominees against Chief Executive Officer Aaron Levie and two other directors seeking re-election this year. Starboard said in a letter to the software company’s shareholders it’s put forth four directors for the three seats to be voted on. The additional nominee will give Starboard some flexibility if Box expands the number of seats up for grabs ahead of the annual general meeting.
Hedge Funds are on a Roll with Strongest Jan-to-April Returns in 20 Years (Hedge Week)
Hedge funds are on a roll this year, with the industry recording its best January-to-April performance in more than 20 years, as managers profited from tech gains, commodities moves, strong earnings, and renewed optimism over the reopening US economy. Overall, hedge funds added 2.74 per cent in April, and have returned 8.68 per cent in the four months since the start of 2021, as measured by Hedge Fund Research’s Fund Weighted Composite Index, a global equal-weighted benchmark of some 1400 single-manager hedge funds. That was strongest year-to-date return through April since 1999, when it rose 8.56 per cent.
Hedge Fund Star Managing US$1.3 Trillion Talks Talent (The Star)
OSLO: At the end of his working day, the chief executive of the world’s biggest wealth fund can often be found on his sofa, eating a pizza and responding to students on LinkedIn. They’re keen to pick his brain on all kinds of things, and he likes sharing his thoughts. Nicolai Tangen, the 54-year-old hedge-fund star who now manages a US$1.3 trillion (RM5.35 trillion) portfolio for Norges Bank Investment Management, is trying to define what it takes to invest well today. Greed is out, diversity and climate goals are in. That means employers like Norway’s wealth fund need to cast a wider net when they search for talent.
