GoldenTree Nets About $100 Million on Credit Suisse Turmoil (Bloomberg)
GoldenTree Asset Management made about $100 million in profit in the weeks following an emergency rescue of Credit Suisse by UBS Group AG, driven by a well-timed bet on so-called Additional Tier 1 bonds. The hedge fund bought roughly $300 million of various banks’ AT1 bonds at knockdown prices in the days after the merger wiped out $17 billion of such bonds for Credit Suisse and saw others capitulate, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
Odey Asset Management to Liquidate Second Fund (Financial News)
Odey Asset Management is winding down a second fund as investor redemptions ramp up in the wake of sexual assault allegations against founder Crispin Odey. The Odey Portfolio fund will be liquidated with cash returned to shareholders, the fund’s authorised corporate director Link Fund Solutions confirmed in a letter on 29 June. The fund, which had £96.8m in assets at the end of May per FE Trustnet, was suspended by Link on 15 June as investors raced to pull their cash out amid the scandal engulfing the Mayfair hedge fund.
Marshall Wace Continues Hiring Spree (Hedge Week)
As major banks make significant staffing cuts, hedge fund Marshall Wace is continuing its hiring spree with the London-based firm adding to its headcount on both sides of the pond, according to a report by eFinancial Careers. New joiners this month Nick Vedder in New York, as well as O T Poon in London. Vedder has joined Marshall Wace as portfolio manager having spent the past 13 years at hedge fund Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers. Prior to Weiss, he worked an analyst at Green Street Advisors.
Copyright: welcomia / 123RF Stock Photo
Alkermes Beats Back Board Room Challenge from Sarissa Capital Management, All Directors Re-elected (Reuters)
Shareholders in Alkermes have re-elected all of the biotechnology company’s directors, according to two sources familiar with the matter on Thursday, dealing a blow to hedge fund Sarissa Capital Management which pushed to put three candidates on the board. Sarissa, which owns 8.5% of Alkermes, has long criticized the company’s stock price and how the biotechnology company is run, and nominated three candidates, including its co-founder, Alex Denner, as director candidates to the 11-member board.
Citadel Securities Is Muscling Its Way Into Credit Trading (Bloomberg)
Ken Griffin’s market-making powerhouse is challenging Wall Street banks on their own turf as it enters the multitrillion-dollar world of corporate debt. Citadel Securities LLC started offering investment-grade trading to clients this month with plans to make markets in high-yield bonds by the end of the year, according to executives.
At Hedge Funds, Private Market Investments Continue to Languish (Institutional Investor)
Most hedge funds showed little appetite for the private markets in the second quarter. Hedge fund firms and their venture capital arms continued to shun the private markets in the second quarter of 2023. Several firms that until recently were very active in the private markets made no new investments in the June three-month period, while others continued to be involved in just a fraction of the deals they had previously been making, according to an analysis of data from Crunchbase.
UK Regulator Quizzes Platforms on Offering Odey Funds to Retail Investors, Financial Times Reports (Reuters)
UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is pressing investment platforms including AJ Bell (AJBA.L), Hargreaves Lansdown (HRGV.L) and Halifax for continuing to offer funds from Odey Asset Management to investors, the Financial Times reported. The FCA contacted investment platforms this month about their continued offering of funds branded under Odey’s name, or under Brook, the name given to funds managed by other partners of Odey Asset Management, according to the report on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Fund Managers Are Eager to Paint a Pretty Picture as Q2 Comes to a Close (Real Money)
The market is dealing with an interesting mix of crosscurrents as the second quarter draws to a close. Few strategists predicted the market strength in the first half of the year, and even fewer have predicted how narrow the strength would be. This has created substantial underperformance by many investors as well as an intense fear of missing out if this indeed is really a new bull market. Many fund managers are struggling at the end of the quarter to put a happy face on what is likely to be a quarter of substantial underperformance versus the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ). Money managers holding diversified portfolios have little chance of keeping pace with the indexes unless they have been highly concentrated in the 10 big-cap names that have produced all of the superior performance this year.
Thursday 6/29 Insider Buying Report: IGMS, OKE (Nasdaq.com)
At IGM Biosciences, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Monday, Director M. Kathleen Behrens purchased 112,500 shares of IGMS, for a cost of $8.00 each, for a total investment of $900,000. Behrens was up about 20.0% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with IGMS trading as high as $9.60 in trading on Thursday. IGM Biosciences is trading up about 3.9% on the day Thursday. Before this latest buy, Behrens made one other buy in the past twelve months, purchasing $1.03M shares at a cost of $17.14 each. And on Wednesday, Director Brian L. Derksen purchased $291,989 worth of ONEOK, purchasing 4,900 shares at a cost of $59.59 a piece. ONEOK is trading up about 0.7% on the day Thursday. Derksen was up about 2.5% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with OKE trading as high as $61.10 at last check today.
BJ’s Wholesale Club, Verint Systems And 2 Other Stocks Insiders Are Selling (Benzinga)
BJ’s Wholesale Club: The Trade: BJ’s Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc. (BJ) EVP, Chief Digital Officer Monica Schwartz sold a total of 15,168 shares at an average price of $61.85. The insider received around $938,140 from selling those shares. Verint Systems: The Trade: Verint Systems Inc. (NYSE: VRNT) Director Richard N Nottenburg sold a total of 3,000 shares at an average price of $34.82. The insider received around $104,445 from selling those shares.
