Soros Says Russian Defeat in Ukraine Would Trigger Dissolution of ‘Russian Empire’ (Reuters)
Billionaire financier George Soros said on Thursday that if Russia was defeated in the Ukraine war it would result in the dissolution of what he called the ‘Russian empire,’ something he said would be greeted by former Soviet republics. Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine has triggered one of the deadliest European conflicts since World War Two and the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Salesforce’s Hedge Fund Hotel Fills Up Amid Elliott Pressure (Axios)
Details of hedge fund investments into Salesforce emerged Wednesday, revealing some significant bets at a critical and uncertain time for the company. Why it matters: Activist Elliott Management stands to benefit from a pack of hedgies supporting its battle for changes at Marc Benioff’s company, though Salesforce has a few fund allies building stakes as well. Driving the news: Fund managers released mandated 13F filings on Wednesday, shedding light for the first time on some of the CRM (Salesforce’s ticker) stakes owned by the five activist managers involved with the company at the moment.
Graham Capital Posts Double-Digit Gains in Dismal 2022 by Betting on Hawkish Fed (Pensions&Investments)
Macroeconomic hedge funds aim to anticipate moves in financial markets, such as the direction of interest rates, currencies, stocks, bonds and commodities, and these funds were among the few to make money in 2022. Kenneth “Ken” Tropin‘s hedge fund Graham Capital Management was among the winners. The $18 billion hedge fund firm, based in Rowayton, Conn., posted double-digit returns in 2022 net of fees in its discretionary and quantitative macro funds. Graham’s winning wager was based on an early hawkish view on interest rates, as the firm correctly forecast that the Federal Reserve and other central banks would tighten faster and with more hikes than Wall Street expected. About 65% of the assets are institutional investors.
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Restaurant Group Under Fire from Activist Stakeholder (Proactive Investors)
Wagamama owner Restaurant Group PLC (LSE:RTN) has been slated by activist shareholder Oasis Management following the company losing two-thirds of its share price in the last year. Oasis Management, an Asia- based hedge fund, has called for Restaurant Group to “re-align its priorities” by taking immediate action to revitalise investor confidence.
Ilmarinen’s Hedge Fund Portfolio Returns 8% in 2022 (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – 2022 was a difficult year for investors, including well-diversified institutional investors, as equity and bond markets experienced double-digit declines. Finnish pension insurer Ilmarinen saw its investment portfolio book a loss of 6.6 percent for 2022, resulting in an investment loss of €4.0 billion. Ilmarinen’s hedge fund portfolio, which accounted for 8.6 percent of the overall portfolio at the end of 2022, returned 8.2 percent during the year to offset some of the broader portfolio’s losses.
Anson Hedge Fund Pivots to Long Wagers, Betting on Weed Stocks (Bloomberg)
Canada’s Anson Funds, once primarily known for wagering against stocks, is pivoting to make more long bets after last year’s market rout. The $1.5 billion fund began the year with a net long position of around 20% compared with 9% at the beginning of 2022, according to Moez Kassam, the firm’s co-founder and chief investment officer.
Why Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Fund Just Tripled Its GameStop and AMC Positions (The Street)
Ray Dalio‘s Bridgewater hedge fund recently reported a nearly threefold increase in its GameStop and AMC positions. Let’s find out why. Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, roughly tripled its positions in AMC Entertainment and GameStop during the last quarter of 2022. Compared to the magnitude of Bridgewater’s assets under management, the fund’s AMC and GME holdings are insignificant. It’s likely the hedge fund bought GME and AMC in order to gain exposure to the new role retail investors are playing in the markets.
This Hedge Fund Pro Is Remaking Northern Trust’s Fixed Income Investing Process (Think Advisor)
Tom Swaney, a 25-year veteran of the U.S. bond market and hedge fund industries, has been global fixed income CIO since September. Among his goals is collaboration between the fixed income and equity groups. He expects the Fed will be successful in bringing down core inflation but acknowledges the outlook is complicated. Northern Trust Asset Management is making significant progress in its ongoing effort to reimagine and modernize its investment approach for clients on both the equity and fixed income sides of the portfolio, according to Tom Swaney, NTAM’s chief investment officer of global fixed income.
BlackRock’s Hedge Fund Star Seeks $1 Billion After 12% Loss (Bloomberg)
BlackRock Inc. star money manager Alister Hibbert is raising $1 billion for his hedge fund following the worst ever annual loss for his equity-focused strategy. London-based Hibbert will reopen the BlackRock Strategic Equity Hedge Fund for additional cash from the end of March, according to an investor document seen by Bloomberg. The fund had been closed to new investments since 2019.
Relative Value Paid Off in Fixed-Income Turmoil (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Fixed-income assets and fund managers focused on the space faced a challenging 2022, “a year many investors would have liked to have missed,” according to Henrik Stille, a portfolio manager at Nordea. The European-focused relative value fixed-income hedge fund he runs out of Copenhagen navigated the turmoil to advance 10.2 percent in 2022, ending the year as the best-performing fixed-income vehicle in the Nordic hedge fund universe.
Thursday 2/16 Insider Buying Report: VFC, CMPX (Nasdaq.com)
On Monday, VFC’s Director, Juliana L. Chugg, made a $400,305 buy of VFC, purchasing 15,000 shares at a cost of $26.69 a piece. So far Chugg is in the green, up about 4.0% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $27.75. VFC is trading down about 0.8% on the day Thursday. This purchase marks the first one filed by Chugg in the past year. And at Compass Therapeutics, there was insider buying on Wednesday, by CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Thomas J. Schuetz who purchased 20,000 shares at a cost of $3.86 each, for a trade totaling $77,200. Before this latest buy, Schuetz bought CMPX at 18 other times during the past twelve months, for a total cost of $961,761 at an average of $2.78 per share.
Microsoft, S&P Global And 3 Other Stocks Insiders Are Selling (Benzinga)
S&P Global: The Trade: S&P Global Inc. (SPGI) EVP, Global Head of Strategy Sally Moore sold a total of 3,499.29 shares at an average price of $367.30. The insider received around $1.29 million from selling those shares. Microsoft: The Trade: Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) EVP, Chief Marketing Officer Christopher C Capossela sold a total of 1,000 shares at an average price of $272.32. The insider received around $272.32 thousand from selling those shares.
