Inside the Rise of Billionaire Dan Sundheim: The LeBron James of Investing Whose Hedge Fund is Dominating 2020 (Business Insider)
The world has changed drastically in the two years since D1 Capital launched. And Dan Sundheim has made money through it all, thanks to a string of bets that have emerged as winners in the new normal. The Wharton grad now has at least $1 billion in personal wealth between his assets in his firm, stake in the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets, real-estate portfolio, and art collection. The former Viking Global Investors chief investment officer started trading at D1 in July 2018 with more than $5 billion — including more than $500 million of his own money — and hasn’t looked back.
Jim Chanos Says ‘Pitchforks are Undervalued’ After Report Hedge Funds Received Private Coronavirus Briefing (Yahoo Finance)
Famed investor Jim Chanos said Thursday that a New York Times report alleging White House officials held private briefings with hedge funds about the coronavirus pandemic’s severity while downplaying the risk in public exacerbating a narrative that business elites have an unfair advantage. Chanos, known for his success as a short seller, said the report on the private briefings “crystallized” the notion among critics of the business sector and the public at large that the “game is rigged” against them.
$46 Billion Hedge Fund Millennium Management was on the Verge of Diving into Crypto (TheBlockCrypto.com)
Millennium Management, the $46 billion hedge fund, was looking to make a move into crypto. Up until at least September, the firm was actively interviewing potential candidates for team to invest in digital assets. A source says that those plans hit a roadblock and that the company will likely not deploy crypto strategies in the near term.
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Rishi Sunak’s Former Boss Christopher Hohn Becomes World’s Best-Paid Hedge Fund Tycoon After Pocketing £1.4 billion in a Year (Dailymail.co.uk)
Rishi Sunak’s former boss has become the world’s best-paid hedge fund tycoon after pocketing £1.4billion in a year. Sir Christopher Hohn made the cash – the equivalent of £3.8million a day – from betting on technology firms including Microsoft and Google’s parent company Alphabet. The secretive Surrey-born financier was one of five hedge fund managers said to have earned more than $1billion (£770million) each in 2019. The other four in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index are Americans and they include Steven Cohen, the minority owner of the New York Mets baseball team.
Arbor Investments Raises Its Biggest Fund, Attracting $1.5bn (Opalesque.com)
Chicago private-equity firm Arbor Investments, which specializes in food and beverage acquisitions, has raised its biggest fund, the fifth equity fund, attracting $1.5 billion and doubling its assets under management. The pool is roughly double the $765m secured by Arbor’s fourth fund in 2016. It is also significantly above Arbor’s $1bn target for Fund V. The PE firm focused exclusively on acquiring premier companies in the food, beverage, and related industries also closed its second captive subordinated debt fund, Arbor Debt Opportunities Fund II (DOF II), with $168 million of outside commitments. The close brings Arbor’s total assets under management (AUM) to $2.9 billion, said a press release.
Increased Dispersion Good for Alpha (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – The uncertainties surrounding the coronavirus pandemic has led to increased volatility and dispersion across stocks and sectors, creating a lucrative environment for many long/short equity funds. Origo Quest 1, managed by CIO Stefan Roos and portfolio manager Carl Rydin out of Stockholm, has fared well in this environment after gaining 15.9 percent year-to-date through September. “Both our long and short positions have contributed positively this year, and this is primarily due to our fundamental analysis, but certainly also due to the fact that stock market volatility has risen to historically more normal levels,” Roos tells Swedish business magazine Affärsvärlden.
Man Group CEO Luke Ellis Discusses Systematic-Discretionary Dynamic, Macro Challenges, and ESG Rise in Deep-Dive Webinar (Hedge Week)
Investment managers “have to be able to cope” with prevailing market environments, and not blame central bank policies for fund performance, according to Man Group CEO Luke Ellis, who says investors also now want more from their portfolios than passive index strategies can deliver. In the latest of Man Group’s ‘CIO Agenda’ webinar series, Ellis and chief investment officer Sandy Rattray explored the dynamics between systematic and discretionary hedge funds, the rise of passive investing, the challenges faced by macro strategies, and the development of ESG, among other things.
The SVP & GC of Quest Diagnostics (NYSE: DGX) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the SVP & GC of Quest Diagnostics (DGX), Michael Prevoznik, sold shares of DGX for $4.24M. Following Michael Prevoznik’s last DGX Sell transaction on December 04, 2019, the stock climbed by 13.7%. The company has a one-year high of $131.81 and a one-year low of $73.02. Currently, Quest Diagnostics has an average volume of 510.11K. DGX’s market cap is $15.67 billion and the company has a P/E ratio of 21.30.
Warren Calls SEC, CFTC to Probe White House for Insider Trading (Bloomberg Law)
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren requests the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodities Futures Trading Commission investigate Trump administration officials for privately alarming conservative allies about the economic impact of the pandemic. NOTE: A New York Times report on Oct. 14 said the administration was cautioning allies privately in February while Trump was publicly optimistic about the U.S. handling of the pandemic. “If this report is accurate, it represents an appalling abdication of duty by President Trump and top officials in his administration,” Warren writes in letter to agencies.
1-800-flowers.com Inc (FLWS) CEO and President Christopher G Mccann Sold $1.6 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO and President of 1-800-flowers.com Inc, Christopher G Mccann, sold 55,449 shares of FLWS on 10/15/2020 at an average price of $28.52 a share. The total sale was $1.6 million. 1-800-Flowers.com Inc is a U.S. based provider of gourmet food and gift baskets, consumer floral, and BloomNet wire service.
Ringcentral Inc (RNG) CEO & Chairman Vladimir Shmunis Sold $8.4 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO & Chairman of Ringcentral Inc, Vladimir Shmunis, sold 30,000 shares of RNG on 10/15/2020 at an average price of $278.94 a share. The total sale was $8.4 million. RingCentral Inc provides software-as-a-service, or SaaS, solutions for business communications. Its solutions can be used in multiple devices including Smartphones, Tablets, PC’s and Desk Phones which allows for communication across multiple channels.
Canada: Insider Trading Isn’t Just A Public Markets Problem (Mondaq.com)
For most people, the concept of insider trading likely conjures up thoughts of public companies and famous U.S. cases. For instance, Jeff Skilling, the CEO of Enron, being sentenced to 24 years in prison and fined $45 million for insider trading and other crimes relating to the Enron fraud. Or Martha Stewart getting tipped off by her broker and selling $230,000 of stock in ImClone the day before the company publicly disclosed that it failed to get FDA approval for its new drug. In Canada, we have securities regulators who regularly prosecute insider trading cases – check it out, they are easy to find on the enforcement pages on the websites of securities commissions across the country.
Novagold Resources Inc (NG) President and CEO Gregory A. Lang Sold $1 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
President and CEO of Novagold Resources Inc, Gregory A. Lang, sold 91,723 shares of NG on 10/15/2020 at an average price of $11 a share. The total sale was $1 million. Novagold Resources Inc is a mineral exploration company operating in the gold mining industry, focused on advancing permitting of the Donlin Gold project in Alaska. The Company also has interest in the Galore Creek project in British Columbia, Canada.
