David Einhorn’s Hedge Fund Resurgence Faces Mexican Tariff Test (Bloomberg)
David Einhorn’s recovery this year, spurred partly by his big bet on General Motors Co., has been jolted by President Donald Trump’s threat of a trade war with Mexico. Einhorn’s hedge fund, Greenlight Capital, counts GM as its largest U.S. publicly disclosed position. The automaker’s stock is among the hardest hit in the industry after Trump said he would slap tariffs of as much as 25% on goods from Mexico, the largest source of U.S. vehicle and auto-parts imports. GM dropped 4.5% at 11:10 a.m. and is down about 15% since the beginning of May amid a loss in U.S. market share.
Marathon Asset Management Closes New Aviation Fund (HedgeWeek.com)
Credit investment manager Marathon Asset Management (Marathon) has closed its first fund solely dedicated to aviation leasing, the Marathon Aviation Fund (MAF). The new strategy, which was oversubscribed, will focus on leasing the most in-demand early- to mid-life aircraft, and providing investors with returns that have low correlation to other asset classes. “Continuous rapid growth in global passenger air travel that is outpacing airlines’ order capabilities, along with the ageing of global fleets and airlines’ increasing preference for leasing new, fuel-efficient planes, is creating a compelling opportunity in the aircraft leasing sector,” says Andrew Springer, Partner and Head of Structured Credit at Marathon Asset Management.
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Angelo Gordon Closes Latest Fund at $2.75bn, Exceeding its Target (Opalesque.com)
Angelo Gordon, a $33bn alternative investment firm focused on credit and real estate investing, announced that it has raised over $2.75bn in equity commitments for its most recent U.S. real estate fund, AG Realty Value Fund X, exceeding the fund’s $2.5bn target. AG Realty Value Fund X is 112% larger than the prior fund in the series of real estate funds, the $1.3bn AG Realty Fund IX that closed in December 2014. The New York-based firm will use AG Realty Value Fund X to invest in a broad spectrum of distressed and underperforming properties.
Elizabeth Warren and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to Eddie Lampert: Billionaire’s Effort to Avoid Paying $43 million in Worker Severance is a ‘Betrayal’ (CNBC)
Presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sent a letter to Sears’ former Chairman and CEO Eddie Lampert lambasting him for efforts to avoid paying $43 million in severance to the department store’s employees. Lampert bought Sears out of bankruptcy last year through an affiliate of his hedge fund ESL Investments, Transform Holdco, after years of declines under his leadership as CEO and chairman. The deal, which saved the company from liquidation, also promised that Lampert would cover severance costs for workers who lost a job in bankruptcy.
Breakingviews – Hedge Funds See Honey in Japan’s Value Traps (Reuters)
HONG KONG (Reuters Breakingviews) – Hedge funds see honey in Japan’s value traps. Companies from the Land of the Rising Sun dominated pitches at Hong Kong’s Sohn Conference on Thursday. They pointed to signs of unjustified panic in the country’s equities slump, creating opportunities to buy low. But even optimists highlighted the persistent cash hoarding and slack governance that have long scared investors away.
Quant Hedge Fund Amplitude Is Returning Client Cash After Outflows (Bloomberg)
The shrinking hedge fund universe has claimed two more victims. Quantitative hedge fund Amplitude Capital AG, bruised by two years of losses in one of its main money pools, is returning client money after investor withdrawals sparked a plunge in assets, while Manuel Blanco, who previously managed money for the likes of Highbridge Capital Management and Balyasny Asset Management, is shutting down his hedge fund Sator Square Capital Management after failing to raise enough money.
OK, So Maybe Ray Dalio Was A Touch Optimistic About The Trade War (Deal Breaker)
Once again, radical transparency and radical truth have proven incapable of penetrating a rapidly deteriorating brain dedicated to radical opacity and even more radical dishonesty. Unfortunately for Ray Dalio, that increasingly smooth, liquid and incoherent grey matter belongs to the president of the United States. Time and again, Dalio has expressed confidence that Donald Trump can’t possibly be as stupid and dangerous as he appears. Time and again, he has been disappointed, although not in an economic way, of course. And so it goes: A year ago, he promised that the dick-swinging between Washington and Beijing could not possibly go too far.
Hedge Fund D.E. Shaw to Help Cover Fertility, Surrogacy Services as Part of New Benefits Plan (eFinancialCareers.com)
Famed quant fund D.E. Shaw is the latest big-name financial firm to up its benefits package for hopeful parents. Under its new “family building benefit” plan, the firm will reimburse eligible employees up to $40k for fertility, adoption and surrogacy services, according to a source familiar with the new rollout. Reimbursable expenses now include invitro fertilization (IVF), genetic screening as well as egg, sperm and embryo freezing. In terms of surrogacy and adoption services, employees can utilize the fund to cover medical expenses, legal and agency fees as well as travel costs, according to the source. The new plan reportedly does not require employees to first prove infertility or receive pre-authorization – one of the bigger hurdles women often face when trying to tap into similar benefits.
A Director at Enservco Corp (NYSE MKT: ENSV) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Today, a Director at Enservco Corp (ENSV), William Jolly, bought shares of ENSV for $4,786. This recent transaction increases William Jolly’s holding in the company by 54.12% to a total of $14.01K.
Friday 5/31 Insider Buying Report: COTY, DISCA (Nasdaq.com)
On Tuesday, Coty (COTY)’s Director, Peter Harf, made a $4.03M purchase of COTY, buying 309,222 shares at a cost of $13.04 a piece. Bargain hunters have the opportunity to pick up COTY at a price even lower than Harf did, with the stock trading as low as $12.28 in trading on Friday – that’s 5.9% under Harf’s purchase price. Coty is trading down about 1.9% on the day Friday. Before this latest buy, Harf purchased COTY at 2 other times during the past year, for a total investment of $59.8M at an average of $11.69 per share. And at Discovery (DISCA), there was insider buying on Tuesday, by CEO Peter Faricy who purchased 35,900 shares at a cost of $27.91 each, for a trade totaling $1.00M. Discovery is trading up about 0.6% on the day Friday. Bargain hunters are able to grab DISCA at a price even lower than Faricy did, with shares trading as low as $27.17 in trading on Friday – that’s 2.7% under Faricy’s purchase price.
Restaurant Brands International Inc (QSR) CEO Jose E. Cil Sold $8.7 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO of Restaurant Brands International Inc (NYSE:QSR) Jose E. Cil sold 127,557 shares of QSR on 05/28/2019 at an average price of $68.28 a share. The total sale was $8.7 million. Restaurant Brands International Inc is a quick service restaurant company. It owns and operates restaurants brands include Burger King, Tim Hortons, and Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. Restaurant Brands International Inc has a market cap of $16.55 billion; its shares were traded at around $65.13 with a P/E ratio of 27.98 and P/S ratio of 5.82. The dividend yield of Restaurant Brands International Inc stocks is 2.84%.
Intrexon Corp (XON) CEO Randal J Kirk Bought $2.4 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO of Intrexon Corp (NASDAQ:XON) Randal J Kirk bought 495,271 shares of XON on 05/30/2019 at an average price of $4.75 a share. The total cost of this purchase was $2.4 million. Intrexon Corp is a biotechnology company that develops synthetic biology solutions. It designs, builds and regulates gene programs using its proprietary and complementary technologies. Intrexon Corp has a market cap of $773.280 million; its shares were traded at around $4.81 with and P/S ratio of 4.42.
Harvesting Insights From Insider Activity (Seeking Alpha)
The intuitive link between legal insider trades and stock returns proves elusive as a quant strategy. Over the years, a number of research papers have claimed to show a link between insider activity and subsequent risk-adjusted outperformance of the shares concerned. A stock receives a binary “Insider Boost” if there have been purchases totaling $100,000 or more in the past 90 days by top insiders (excluding CEOs), and the stock is identified as high-value by standard value metrics.
OANDO : SEC Bars Tinubu From Being Director Of Any Public Company For Five Years (Market Screener)
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has barred Wale Tinubu, the chief executive officer of Oando Plc, from being a director in public company for the next five years, The Cable reports. The company’s deputy CEO has also been barred while board members found guilty of various infractions have been directed to resign. In a statement on Friday, the commission said an extraordinary general meeting should be convened before July 1 to appoint new directors. SEC had given Deloitte the go-ahead to carry out a forensic audit after Dahiru Mangal, a shareholder, accused the company of declaring false profits and insider trading.
