Hedge Fund Millennium Will Charge Fees Even When It Loses Money (Bloomberg)
Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management has changed its terms to ensure that clients always pay a minimum fee, even if the hedge fund loses money. They will now pay annual fees of about 1% of assets or 20% of investment gains — whichever is greater, according to a client letter seen by Bloomberg. It’s part of an effort to “reflect current industry-standard approaches” adopted by other multi-strategy peers, Millennium said in the Feb. 21 letter.
Wall Street’s Most Successful Hedge Fund Just Politely Told Fed Chair Jay Powell to Shut Up (Fortune)
If there was one piece of advice the boss of hedge fund Citadel LLC would give to the Federal Reserve, it would be to stop talking so much. Every time Fed chair Jay Powell opens his mouth to discuss all the progress the central bank has achieved cooling off last year’s red-hot inflation, he may actually just be making his own job harder by confusing investors with different messages. Citadel founder Ken Griffin, the most successful hedge fund manager on Wall Street last year, urged Powell to stick to just one key talking point so as to anchor inflation expectations best and therefore minimize the collateral damage he is visiting upon the economy.
NJOY Investment Nets $1.3 Billion Bonanza for Hedge Fund (The Wall Street Journal)
New York hedge fund Mudrick Capital Management has racked up a big win on its roughly six-year investment in e-cigarette company NJOY Holdings. Marlboro maker Altria Group on Monday agreed to buy NJOY, one of the few vaping companies whose products have clearance from federal regulators, for at least $2.75 billion. Assuming the deal closes, the deal makes Mudrick’s NJOY stake, for which it paid roughly $75 million over the years, worth about $1.33 billion, said a person familiar with the firm, resulting in an estimated profit of $1.26 billion. The investor managed about $3.4 billion at year-end.
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US Digital Asset Fund, Venture Capital Firm to Raise $100 Million for Two New Blockchain Funds (Reuters)
Alpha Sigma Capital, a U.S.-based digital asset fund, and Transform Ventures, a venture capital firm, will raise $100 million for two new funds focused on the blockchain and so-called decentralized Web 3.0 ventures, Alpha Sigma founder and Chief Executive Officer Enzo Villani said on Wednesday. Transform Ventures, founded by crypto investor Michael Terpin, also merged some of its assets with Alpha Sigma’s parent to form a new holding company called Alpha Transform Holdings. The latter will oversee the two new funds.
Hedge Funds Down 0.5% in February (Hedge Week)
Global hedge funds saw a 0.5% decline in February according to the performance of the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index, on the back of weak equities performance, ongoing generational inflation, higher interest rates and the possibility of a recession in 2023. Equity hedge funds, which invest long and short across specialised sub-strategies, declined in over the month though outperformed equity market declines for February, with performance led by Market Neutral and Technology sub-strategies. The investable HFRI 500 Equity Hedge Index declined -1.5% (estimated) in February, while the HFRI Equity Hedge (Total) Index fell -1.3%. EH sub-strategy declines were led by the HFRI EH: Energy/Basic Materials Index, which fell -2.7%, while the HFRI 500 EH: Fundamental Growth Index declined -2.6%.
Two Hedge Funds Have Highlighted These Gambling Stocks In Their Letters (Forbes)
This year is turning out a little better than last year, although it’s far from making up for 2022’s losses, making stock selection critical. The Dow Jones U.S. Gambling Total Stock Market Index has been rising steadily for the last three months, so some investors might be considering some gambling stocks. As luck would have it, at least two hedge funds have featured gambling stocks in their letters to investors. Among the stocks mentioned were Golden Entertainment (GDEN) -1%, Everi Holdings, Las Vegas Sands (LVS) -0.4%, MGM Resorts, and Caesars Entertainment (CZR) -0.7%.
Fresh Clouds for Darktrace as New York Hedge Fund Claims Concerns Borne Out (Standard.co.uk)
Darktrace suffered another blow today after the New York-based investment business which earlier produced a short-seller report into the cybersecurity firm said its results failed to address its concerns. In a Tweet, Quintessential Capital Management, which previously expressed its “fear that sales, margins, and growth rates may be overstated” today said: “Darktrace’s recent financial results are consistent with our thesis: growth, new customers, cash generation and profits are all shrinking fast.
UK Hedge Funds Lag Behind French Firms for Senior Women in Top Jobs (Financial News)
UK hedge funds are struggling to compete with their French peers when it comes to the representation of female leaders among the most senior positions. Roughly 12% of senior hedge fund employees in the UK are women, compared with 16% in France and around 13% in the US, according to a report published on 8 March by London-based alternative assets data provider Preqin.
Wednesday 3/8 Insider Buying Report: SLRC, PNTG (Nasdaq.com)
At SLR Investment, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Tuesday, Michael S. Gross bought 152,158 shares of SLRC, at a cost of $15.64 each, for a total investment of $2.38M. So far Gross is in the green, up about 1.9% on their buy based on today’s trading high of $15.94. SLR Investment is trading up about 1.1% on the day Wednesday. Before this latest buy, Gross purchased SLRC at 2 other times during the past year, for a total investment of $2.06M at an average of $14.99 per share. And at Pennant Group, there was insider buying on Monday, by Director Barry M. Smith who bought 30,000 shares at a cost of $14.99 each, for a total investment of $449,712. Pennant Group is trading up about 4.6% on the day Wednesday. Bargain hunters can bag PNTG at a price even lower than Smith did, with the stock changing hands as low as $13.60 at last check today which is 9.3% below Smith’s purchase price.
Insiders Selling Sunrun, Applied Materials And 2 Other Stocks (Benzinga)
Applied Materials: The Trade: Applied Materials, Inc. (AMAT) SVP, CLO Teri Little sold a total of 6,813 shares at an average price of $117.44. The insider received around $800.12 thousand from selling those shares. Sunrun: The Trade: Sunrun Inc. (RUN) Director Michelle Lynn Jurich sold a total of 40,000 shares at an average price of $24.00. The insider received around $960 thousand from selling those shares.
Insiders Just Bought $1 Million of This Deep Value Tech Stock (Investor Place)
On Monday, SEC filings revealed that three executives had bought an enormous amount of iHeartMedia (NASDAQ:IHRT) stock. Together, the firm’s CEO, CFO and chief accounting officer snapped up over 190,000 shares worth $1.05 million. It’s a fascinating turn of events. iHeartMedia’s stock is down almost 75% since 2022, and shares trade as a stub on top of a massive debt pile. Any good news could send shares up 100%… 200%… 500% or more.
Crypto Craze Insider-Trading Suit Moves Ahead Against Promoter (Bloomberg)
A stock promoter failed to persuade a judge to dismiss a US Securities and Exchange Commission insider-trading lawsuit in which he’s accused of illegally profiting from a company rebranding during the 2017 crypto craze. Gannon Giguiere, owner of TheMoneyStreet.com, allegedly made a $162,500 by buying Long Island Ice Tea Corp. stock before the company changed its name to Long Blockchain Corp. Giguiere sold the stock hours after the rebranding.
