Hedge Fund and Insider Trading News: Jonathan Litt, Mike Novogratz, The Medicines Company (MDCO), Checkpoint Therapeutics Inc (CKPT), Koppers Holdings Inc. (KOP), and More

Activist Investor Litt Renews Call for Saks Fifth Avenue Sale (Reuters)
Nov 28 (Reuters) – Activist investor Jonathan Litt on Wednesday renewed call for the sale of the Saks Fifth Avenue brand, while asking owner Hudson’s Bay Co to make new board appointments, saying the company’s shares were undervalued. Litt, the founder of hedge fund Land & Buildings Investment Management LLC, has criticized the Canadian department store owner in the past for underperformance and mismanagement.

Mike Novogratz’s Crypto Trading Desk Lost $136 Million in Nine Months (Bloomberg)
The bad year for traders at Mike Novogratz’s cryptocurrency merchant bank got even worse in the third quarter — and that was before the market fell out of bed this month. Net realized and unrealized losses on digital assets at Galaxy Digital Holdings LP’s trading operation totaled about $41 million in the third quarter, bringing losses for the first nine months of the year to $136 million, according to company filings this week. The latest hit was caused in large part by losing bets on Ether, Bitcoin and XRP, Galaxy Digital said.

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Sears Wins OK for Junior DIP Loan Provided by Cyrus Capital (The Wall Street Journal)
Sears Wins OK for Junior DIP Loan Provided by Cyrus Capital Sears Holdings Corp. won approval to tap a $350 million junior DIP loan from Cyrus Capital. Sears, in an eleventh-hour maneuver, chose the financing over a rival package from Great American Capital.

Hedge Funds Got What they Wanted, to Their Cost (Bloomberg)
(Bloomberg Opinion) — This is turning out to be a year most hedge fund managers would prefer to forget, with the asset class on track for its worst performance in seven years. And if it fails to prove its mettle in what should be more favorable market conditions next year, the industry may lose any remaining credibility for its claim to deliver sufficient alpha in any market weather to justify its out-sized fees. As the most animated members of the active management crowd, hedge funds should thrive when market volatility awakens. And in October, volatility jumped in the investment world’s three main asset classes.