Distressed-Asset Hedge Funds Run Into Trouble (The Wall Street Journal)
Hedge-fund firms York Capital Management and Southpaw Asset Management are barring clients from getting back all of the money they have requested for year-end, a sign of the pressure that investors in distressed assets are facing. Funds at both firms faced significant client redemptions, according to people familiar with the matter. In response, the funds have erected so-called “gates,” or barriers that limit withdrawals of money from a fund. Gates are a controversial tool used by hedge funds during the financial crisis, but…
Julian Robertson’s Tiger Management is at the Center of a Quarter-Trillion-Dollar Web Linking Billionaires, the Pharma Bro, and a ‘Big Short’ Main Character (Business Insider)
Nearly two decades after Julian Robertson closed Tiger Management to outside investors, his fund still constantly pops up in headlines and conversations within the hedge fund industry he helped pioneer. The billionaire North Carolina native’s sprawling network of spin-offs and seeded start-ups is almost overwhelming, and has spawned fellow billionaires like Chase Coleman, O. Andreas Halvorsen, Philippe Laffont, and several others. Names like “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli, “The Big Short” main character Steve Eisman, and Ken Griffin‘s ex-wife Anne Dias-Griffin are among the hundreds of names that have been seeded, spun-off, or came from a fund that’s connected to Robertson.
Activist Hedge Fund Marcato Capital to Shut Down After Drop in Assets (Reuters)
BOSTON (Reuters) – Activist hedge fund Marcato Capital Management, backed by Blackstone Group and billionaire William Ackman, is shutting down as assets have shriveled after two years of poor returns, sources said on Sunday. Richard McGuire, the firm’s founder and portfolio manager, began telling investors of his decision to return outside capital late last week, and expects to send the money back quickly because the portfolio is now largely in cash, the sources said on condition of anonymity.
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EcoR1 Puts Up Big Gains as the Hedge Fund Scoops Up Biotech (InstitutionalInvestor.com)
EcoR1’s main hedge fund has produced big, double-digit gains in 2019, according to a document obtained by Institutional Investor. EcoR1 Capital is on a buying spree of beaten-down, biotechnology companies as it nears the end of 2019 with big returns. In November, the hedge fund firm established sizable stakes in Pieris Pharmaceuticals, AnaptysBio, and X4 Pharmaceuticals, according to regulatory filings. This month, the firm won a board seat in its activist bet targeting Prothena Corp., whose shares have surged since EcoR1 bought a large stake in the neuroscience company a few months ago.
Adams Street Partners Raises $740m for 2019 Global Fund (Opalesque.com)
Chicago-based private markets investor Adams Street Partners is capping a busy fundraising year with a $740 million closing of its latest annual global partnership fund. The investment management firm with $40 billion in assets under management said that the Adams Street 2019 Partnership Fund Program will offer exposure to all of the firm’s investment strategies, including primaries, secondaries, co-investments, growth equity, and private credit. The final tally for the Adams Street 2019 Partnership Fund Program came in lower than the $824 million that the Chicago-based firm raised for the strategy last year, which brought in nearly $3 billion in capital commitments. The $740 million raised for the 2019 global fund, however, is less than the $824 million the firm raised for the strategy last year.
Ken Griffin has Another Money Machine to Rival Hedge Fund (DailyHerald.com)
Citadel Securities is sometimes dismissively referred to as “Citadel‘s trading arm” — seen as a forgotten backwater of Ken Griffin‘s hedge fund empire, where quants toil on complex algorithms to arbitrage tiny differences in stock prices or calculate bid-ask spreads for Treasuries. It’s much more than that.
Lone Star Emerges as White-Knight Bidder for Japanese Hotel Chain Unizo (Reuters)
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese hotel chain Unizo Holdings (3258.T) said on Sunday it had received a friendly buyout offer from U.S. investment fund Lone Star, a deal that could end a five-month takeover battle involving Blackstone Group (BX.N), Fortress Investment Group and activist investor Elliott Management. Lone Star will launch a tender offer to buy Unizo on Tuesday at 5,100 yen ($46.60) per share, valuing it at 175.4 billion yen, Unizo said, topping the 5,000 yen that Blackstone was planning to offer. Its shares closed on Friday at 4,900 yen.
Notable Insider Buys: Energy Transfer, Enterprise Products Partners, FedEx (Benzinga)
Enterprise Products Partners: An Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (EPD) director stepped up to the buy window again this past week. That director, via trust, picked up an additional 261,600 shares of this midstream energy services provider at $27.53 to $28.00 apiece. That totaled over $7.25 million. The same director bought more than 440,000 shares in the prior week.
Marriott International Inc (MAR) EVP, Chf. Mktg. & Com. Officer Stephanie Linnartz Sold $2.5 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
EVP, Chf. Mktg. & Com. Officer of Marriott International Inc., Stephanie Linnartz, sold 16,606 shares of MAR on 12/20/2019 at an average price of $151 a share. The total sale was $2.5 million. Marriott International Inc is an operator, franchisor and licensor of hotels and timeshare properties under different brand names. It also operates and develops residential properties and provides services to home/condominium owner associations.
The EVP & GC of Pioneer Natural (NYSE: PXD) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Today, the EVP & GC of Pioneer Natural (PXD), Mark H. Kleinman, sold shares of PXD for $258.1K. In addition to Mark H. Kleinman, 8 other PXD executives reported Sell trades in the last month. The company has a one-year high of $178.22 and a one-year low of $114.79. PXD’s market cap is $24.45B and the company has a P/E ratio of 34.22.
Robinhood Has been Fined $1.25 million Over Concerns It Wasn’t Giving Users the Best Deals on Their Trades (Business Insider)
Commission-free trading platform Robinhood was hit with a $1.25 million by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which regulates US broker-dealers, per Quartz. Robinhood was slapped with the fine because it did not ensure users received the best prices possible October 2016 through November 2017 – however, it wasn’t disclosed how much harm was caused to users over the period. The fintech has neither denied, nor confirmed the claims.
