Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital Crypto Fund Lost $272.7 Million in 2018 (CoinDesk)
Galaxy Digital Holdings, the crypto merchant bank founded by former hedge fund manager Michael Novogratz, lost $97 million in the fourth quarter, according to financials disclosed Monday. The net loss widened from $76.7 million in the third quarter and from about $100,000 a year earlier, according to the filing with Canadian securities regulators. (Last February, New York-based Galaxy bought a Canadian publicly traded company in a reverse takeover.) For all of 2018, its first full year of operation, the company lost $272.7 million. The majority of the red ink in 2018, $101.4 million, came from selling digital assets at a loss. Galaxy also recorded $75.5 million in paper losses on crypto it held that declined in price, $8.5 million in unrealized losses on investments in companies and $88.4 million in operating expenses.
Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son is Warren Buffett of tech, says Silicon Valley hedge funder Glen Kacher (CNBC)
Silicon Valley hedge fund founder Glen Kacher is bullish on Japan’s SoftBank and it’s in large part because of its founder and CEO, Masayoshi Son. In fact, he said the billionaire “is as close as we get to having a Warren Buffett of technology, ” said Kacher, chief investment officer of Light Street Capital, based in Palo Alto, California.
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2019 Preqin Global Hedge Fund League Tables (Preqin.com)
The 2019 Preqin Global Hedge Fund League Tables showcase the top performing hedge funds over 2018, the largest managers globally, the investors operating the biggest hedge fund portfolios and the industry’s leading service providers. Using comprehensive data from Preqin Pro, the League Tables provide a definitive ranking of the leading players in the hedge fund industry right now. Highlights of the League Tables include: Bridgewater Associates manages $162.9bn in assets under management (AUM) and remains the largest hedge fund manager in the world. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority currently allocates the largest amount of capital ($51.2bn) to hedge funds. Spartan Fund Management’s LSQ Fund was the top performing hedge fund in 2018, returning a net +99.76% for the year.
Hedge Fund Pays Highest-Ever UK Office Rent in Mayfair (Standard.co.uk)
London’s hedge-fund heartland has broken a record for the UK’s highest office rent, the Evening Standard can reveal. The Mayfair move by Asia-focused hedgie Steadview Capital will see it take space, around 3000 square feet, at 30 Berkeley Square for its new London base, also the home of the famous Phillips auction house. The firm, which was founded by former Morgan Stanley analyst Ravi Mehta, is believed to have agreed to pay £250 per square foot. That is well above what is thought to be the most recent UK high: the £190 per square foot paid by fashion investment tycoon Lawrence Stroll in St James’s in 2017.
Paris-based Hedge Fund Manager Opens Seeding Programme for Niche Strategies (Opalesque)
Melanion Capital, an independent investment manager based in Paris, is launching a seeding programme that can house two to three early-stage managers who run a hedge fund or a managed account. The programme will run for two years, with tickets of up to $10m. The managers at Melanion know what new managers go through from their own experience seven years ago, when they first launched their dividend futures fund, and from a first seeding experience they had two years ago.
Asia Hedge Fund Firm Offers to Insure First 10% of Losses (Bloomberg)
A new entrant to Asia’s hedge fund market is offering to insure investors against the first 10 percent of their losses. Clients putting money into Infini Capital Management Ltd.’s multi-strategy hedge fund may choose to pay a higher performance fee in exchange for the insurance, according to Michael Friedlander, the Hong Kong-based firm’s chief operating officer. CEO Tony Chin is providing the protection, along with other investors in Infini’s founder share class.
Over Three-Quarters of Hedge Funds Saw Positive Returns in Q1 (HedgeWeek.com)
Hedge fund managers ended March 2019 up 0.77 per cent on an equal-weighted basis, and 0.45 per cent on an asset-weighted basis. Roughly 78.0 per cent of the hedge fund managers tracked by Eurekahedge recorded positive returns over the first quarter of the year. Fund managers focusing on Asia topped the chart with their 5.66 per cent year-to-date returns. Across strategies, long/short equities mandate outperformed their peers in the first quarter.
