Hedge Fund and Insider Trading News: George Soros, Tom Steyer, Tiger Global Management, Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, Inc. (RMCF), Western Digital Corp (WDC), and More

Tiger Global Raises $3.75 Billion Venture Fund (The Wall Street Journal)
Tiger Global Management has closed on a $3.75 billion private-equity fund, the latest sign of investors’ continued interest in private technology companies despite worries about overheated valuations. The New York investment firm told its clients about the fund’s status in a letter Friday and said in an earlier communication this week the fund was oversubscribed, with more than $4 billion of demand.

Billionaire George Soros Pledges $1 Billion University Fund To Fight ‘Would-Be Dictators’ (Forbes)
George Soros pledged $1 billion to fund a new university network to tackle the spread of nationalism in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where the financier and philanthropist also condemned President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping. The Hungarian-born U.S. billionaire announced the Open Society University Network (OSUN) as an international platform for teaching and research that existing universities all over the world would be able to join.

Hedge Fund Steps Up Fight Against Premier Oil’s North Sea Deal Spree (Standard.co.uk)
A hedge fund ramped up its attack on Premier Oil on Friday, questioning the explorer’s sums on a recently announced acquisition spree. ARCM, a Hong-Kong based fund founded by former Wall Street debt trader Alp Ercil, opposes Premier’s plan to buy a string of North Sea assets from BP and US giant Dana. It has threatened to block the proposal in court. ARCM also has a huge short position in the firm.

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Does Tom Steyer have Real Momentum or Just a Ton of Money? (PostBulletin.com)
HARTSVILLE, S.C. – Rachel Minus is not impressed by the Democratic presidential candidates. They’re just recycling tired talking points for African American voters like her, she said – with one curious exception. The South Carolina millennial is all in for Tom Steyer, a Bay Area billionaire who’s been caricatured by critics as the definition of a rich, entitled white guy. “I get the feeling he cares about us,” Minus said, as she waited for Steyer to take the stage here at the Jerusalem Baptist Church, a black congregation dating to the late 1800s.

After a $1 Billion Launch, Diamondback Founders Richard Schimel and Larry Sapanski Lost Money in Their First Quarter of Trading for New Fund Cinctive Capital (Business Insider)
Cinctive Capital, the new $1 billion fund from Diamondback founders Richard Schimel and Larry Sapanski, lost money in its first quarter of trading, sources tell Business Insider. The fund, which is still putting money to work and hiring its team, posted -2% net returns and -1% gross returns for the fourth quarter. The firm began trading at the end of September. Schimel was in charge of Citadel‘s now-shuttered Aptigon business for two years before founding Cinctive with Sapanski, who was the chief investment officer of family office Imua T Capital for the previous couple of years.

Whale Rock Launches Long-Only Funds (Institutional Investor)
Whale Rock Capital Management is the latest hedge fund firm to launch long-only funds.The Boston firm headed by Alex Sacerdote disclosed in a regulatory filing it has raised money for three related funds: Whale Rock Long Opportunities Fund, an offshore version of that fund, and Whale Rock Long Opportunities Fund…

Former Swiss Bank Chief Sanctioned for Insider Trading (1) (Bloomberg Law)
A Swiss bank’s former chief executive officer has been sanctioned by the country’s financial regulator for insider trading in his wife’s name and for what Finma called other “serious breaches of supervisory law.” The man executed the trades of shares of a separately listed company using his wife’s account at other lenders for several years, violating his bank’s internal directives, Finma said Friday in a statement. The identities of the bank and its ex-CEO weren’t disclosed, as is often the case in Switzerland.

The HTLF President and CEO of Heartland Financial USA (NASDAQ: HTLF) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the HTLF President and CEO of Heartland Financial USA (HTLF), Bruce Lee, bought shares of HTLF for $219.2K. Following this transaction Bruce Lee’s holding in the company was increased by 11% to a total of $2.26 million. In addition to Bruce Lee, 7 other HTLF executives reported Buy trades in the last month.

Western Digital Corp (WDC) President and COO Michael D Cordano Sold $1 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
President and COO of Western Digital Corp., Michael D Cordano, sold 14,706 shares of WDC on 01/23/2020 at an average price of $70.8 a share. The total sale was $1 million. Western Digital Corp is the global leader in the hard disk drive market. It develops, manufactures, and provides data storage solutions that enable consumers to create, manage, experience and preserve digital content.

A Director at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (NASDAQ: RMCF) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, a Director at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (RMCF), Franklin Crail, sold shares of RMCF for $35.59K. In addition to Franklin Crail, 3 other RMCF executives reported Sell trades in the last month.

Democrats To Push Obstruction Charge (ABC14News.com)
Property Democrats in President Trump’s impeachment trial will consider to make the circumstance Friday that he improperly obstructed Congress’ probe of his interactions with Ukraine in their remaining day of arguments just before the president’s lawyers just take up his defense to the prices. The seven Democratic administrators, led by Rep. Adam Schiff, a former federal prosecutor and chair of the Intelligence Committee, will try to make the circumstance to the GOP-led Senate — and the American community – that Trump is responsible of obstructing Congress for withholding important witnesses and documents from lawmakers.

SEBI Disposes of Insider Trading Case Against Individual in Pantaloon Retail India Scrip (MSN.com)
Capital markets regulator Sebi on January 24 disposed of a case of alleged insider trading in the scrip of Pantaloon Retail India Ltd (PRIL) against an individual. The firm is now known as Future Enterprises Ltd. Abhishek Jalan was alleged to have violated Prohibition of Insider Trading norms by allegedly trading on NSE in the scrip of PRIL DVR in the futures segment while in possession of unpublished price sensitive information on account of him being part of the senior management of the firm.