Hedge Fund Veteran Jerrold Fine Debuts First Novel (HedgeWeek)
Hedge fund pioneer Jerrold Fine raced to the forefront of the financial world in the years when a new generation upended the status quo on Wall Street and forever changed investing. He has been a founding managing partner of a hedge fund since he was twenty-four years old. Drawing from his own experiences in the turbulent ‘70s and ‘80s, Fine (pictured) blends a heartfelt story of a young man, Rogers Stout, fiercely intent on achieving independence, with a fascinating insider’s look at the perks and pitfalls of a high-stakes life in the world of financial markets in his debut novel Make Me Even and I’ll Never Gamble Again.
Greek Tragedy for One Hedge Fund Is Not Enough Stocks to Buy (Bloomberg)
Amber Capital is so bullish on Greece that it only wishes there were more stocks it could buy. “I’m super optimistic about the Greek economy,” Joseph Oughourlian, who founded the $1.8 billion asset manager in 2005, said in an interview in London. “It’s got all the catalysts in reverse versus a lot of the countries — not just in Europe, in the rest of the world. It’s got populism receding, it has the economy in a very, very strong footing, it’s got incredibly strong fundamentals.”
Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock.com
Elliott and Vivendi fight over Telecom Italia (Economist.com)
Telecom italia is no stranger to shareholder feuds. Two years after it was privatised in 1997 Italy’s national operator, also known as tim, was the subject of a hostile takeover which left it saddled with so much debt that it never fully recovered. It has gone through four chief executives in four years. Ownership of the company, which has a market value of €11bn ($12bn), is fragmented and unstable. On March 29th instability was expected to be on display once again at a general meeting. Shareholders were due to vote on a proposal by Vivendi, a French media conglomerate which owns 23.9% of tim, to replace five directors put forward last May by Elliott, an American activist-investor fund with a 9.5% stake. The spat shows how corporate Italy is changing.
Hedge Fund Returns Muted in Light of Sustained Bull Market (Plan Adviser)
Given the sustained equity bull market and muted market volatility, the low level of alpha that hedge funds have delivered in recent years is not surprising, Willis Towers Watson says in a new report, “Hedge Funds: A New Way.” The consultancy says that hedge funds have not taken on sufficient risk to deliver attractive performance and that they face several headwinds. Hedge fund managers have turned their attention to short-term performance in order to prevent jittery investors from redeeming their assets.
Billionaire Activist Tom Steyer Differs with Pelosi, Doubles Down on Demands for Trump Impeachment (ABC News)
Hedge fund billionaire and progressive activist Tom Steyer says he intends to stick with his efforts to promote the impeachment of President Donald Trump, even as many Democrats in Congress have quieted talk of such efforts after the investigation into Russian meddling concluded without further indictments. “This is a movement … [that] will continue regardless of whether the House leadership is willing to hold hearings, regardless of whether we get the tax returns, regardless of whether the Mueller report ever is available to the American people,” Steyer said during a wide-ranging interview on the ABC News podcast, “The Investigation.” “The question in all of this is — does it rise to the level of removing the president of the United States? And my point was that I believe this is the most corrupt president in American history.”
Spotless Shares Jump as Hedge Fund Coltrane Creeps Up Register (AFR.com)
The Spotless Group’s biggest minority investor, New York-based hedge fund Coltrane Asset Management, is creeping up the services group’s share register and has lifted its holdings to almost 12 per cent. Downer EDI bought 87.8 per cent of Spotless in a $1.2 billion takeover in August 2017, with only Coltrane and several hundred retail shareholders refusing to accept its offer of $1.15 per share. Coltrane initially took a 10.7 per cent stake in Spotless in May 2017 but released a substantial shareholder notice on Thursday, showing that it had been buying small amounts of Spotless shares via equity swaps – sometimes as little as seven shares on one day.
Hedge Fund Accuses Insurer of Shady Tactics by Expanding Board (New York Post)
A San Francisco-based hedge fund is calling out an insurance company for expanding its board in a transparent attempt to thwart its attack. Voce Capital, which owns 5.6 percent of Argo Group, called for the insurer to rescind the board appointments of Samuel Liss and Tony Latham in a statement. The two were named last month, days ahead of a planned meeting between Voce and Argo. But it’s not just the sudden appointments that irk Voce: The hedge fund also says that Argo’s bylaws only allow the company to name board members when there are “casual vacancies” — generally caused by the death or resignation of a board member. All other appointments must be approved by shareholders, Voce claims.
De Longhi Probed for Insider-Trading (Ansa.it)
(ANSA) – Milan, March 28 – Giuseppe De Longhi, the president of the De’Longhi appliance group, is under investigation along with his secretary for alleged insider trading, sources said on Thursday. The case regards the sale of a 74.97% stake in air-conditioner producer DeLclima to the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation in 2015. De Longhi is accused of passing on price-sensitive information to his sister, Alberta De Longhi, before the sale.
Thursday 3/28 Insider Buying Report: WTM, PRSP (Nasdaq.com)
As the saying goes, there are many possible reasons for an insider to sell a stock, but only one reason to buy – they expect to make money. So let’s look at two noteworthy recent insider buys. On Tuesday, White Mountains Insurance Group (WTM)’s Director, David Allen Tanner, made a $459,223 buy of WTM, purchasing 500 shares at a cost of $918.45 a piece. So far Tanner is in the green, up about 0.8% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $926.11. White Mountains Insurance Group is trading off about 0.2% on the day Thursday. And at Perspecta (PRSP), there was insider buying on Monday, by Director, CEO John M. Curtis who purchased 9,578 shares at a cost of $20.76 each, for a trade totaling $198,839. This buy marks the first one filed by Curtis in the past year. Perspecta is trading up about 1.5% on the day Thursday. Curtis was up about 3.6% on the buy at the high point of today’s trading session, with PRSP trading as high as $21.50 at last check today.
5 Notable Stocks Insiders Are Selling (SeekingAlpha)
Recently, we started a weekly feature around five stocks insiders are buying. While not as powerful an indicator as insider buying, as insiders sell for many reasons (to cover taxes, divorce, diversification, options expiration, etc.) However, insider sells are one thing I do look at when analyzing an individual stock. Therefore, we have added a weekly feature covering five stocks that are seeing substantial and recent insider selling. Insiders seem to be falling out of love with autoparts stocks over the past week. A director at O’Reilly Automotive (ORLY) sold over $2 million in shares on March 20th. This follows just over $1.7 million in sales from the same director on February 26th. The chairman of the company sold nearly $13 million in shares in two transactions on March 20th. Several other directors sold more than $1 million worth of shares a piece in February and March as well.
The President & CEO of Power Integrations (NASDAQ: POWI) is Buying Shares (AnalystRatings)
Today, the President & CEO of Power Integrations (POWI), Balu Balakrishnan, bought shares of POWI for $1.27M. This recent transaction increases Balu Balakrishnan’s holding in the company by 11.29% to a total of $40.64 million. This is Balakrishnan’s first Buy trade following 6 Sell transactions.
Vince McMahon Sells $271M Worth Of WWE Stock To Help Fund XFL Reboot (Benzinga)
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWE) closed down 3.8 percent Wednesday and continued marginally lower in after-hours trading after CEO Vince McMahon reported a significant divestment. What Happened: McMahon sold more than 3.2 million shares — about 4.1 percent of WWE’s outstanding shares — in a block trade in order to bolster his other fledgling venture.
Ex-SeaWorld Lawyer To Shell Out $65,000 For Insider Trading (Law360.com)
Law360 (March 27, 2019, 10:48 PM EDT) — A former lawyer for SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. pled guilty to insider trading and promised to pay back $65,000 he earned on illegal sales of shares in the marine-themed amusement park company,…
New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:NYCB) Insider Trading Activity – Director Bought 34,000 shares of Stock (MarketExclusive)
Insider Trading Activity For New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:NYCB): Dominick Ciampa , Director of New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:NYCB) reportedly Bought 34,000 shares of the company’s stock at an average price of 11.61 for a total transaction amount of $394,740.00.
