Italy’s Bio-on Denies U.S. Fund’s Allegations of Accounting Flaws (Reuters)
MILAN (Reuters) – Italian bio-plastics company Bio-on denied allegations of accounting irregularities by U.S. hedge fund Quintessential Capital Management, saying it was considering legal action against the fund. Bio-on shares were suspended from trading for excessive volatility and were indicated down 10.3% after the allegations, included in a report dated July 19 and posted on Quintessential’s website, were picked up by Italian media on Wednesday.
From Fitbits to Rokus, Hedge Funds Mine Data for Consumer Habits (Bloomberg)
When it comes to gaining that elusive trading edge, data is fast becoming the new frontier whether it comes from Fitbits, Rokus and Teslas or employment websites like Glassdoor.com. That’s why some of the world’s biggest hedge funds, from Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management to Ken Griffin’s Citadel, have been snapping up large swaths of alternative data. Many are paying big money for it.
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Baupost Pitches PG&E Restructuring Plan, Challenging Bondholders (The Wall Street Journal)
A group of insurance companies and hedge fund Baupost Group LLC want to end PG&E Corp.’s exclusive control over its bankruptcy, floating a restructuring strategy to compete with proposals from hedge-fund bondholders. Baupost and several insurance companies that have $20 billion in claims against PG&E unveiled a proposed settlement they said would leave victims of recent California wildfires better off. They said in court documents filed on Tuesday that only their proposal has the support of wildfire victims suing PG&E.
Hedge Funds Buy Up Venezuela’s Sanctioned Debt After Record Drop (Bloomberg)
London hedge funds, a private bank in Monaco and Uruguayan millionaires are among the bargain hunters bidding on Venezuelan bonds as some investors dump the debt to mirror its reduced index weight. Funds from Europe and Latin America are swooping in amid rules that prevent Americans from buying the notes, according to brokers involved in the trades who asked not to be identified because they’re prohibited from discussing clients’ activity. With demand limited to overseas entities, prices for the defaulted debt have dropped to about 15 cents on the dollar from double that just months ago.
Advent Capital Carving Out Volatility Book (HFAlert.com)
Advent Capital is offering investors pure exposure to a well-performing volatility strategy within its flagship hedge fund. The new vehicle, dubbed Advent Vega, manages an “idiosyncratic volatility-arbitrage” portfolio that has been a component of the multi-strategy Advent Global Partners Fund since 2011. The sub-strategy has generated an annualized gross return of 12.75% since Jan. 1, 2012, with no down years and an enviable Sharpe ratio of 2.1. Advent, which runs $9 billion via a mix of hedge funds and long-only products, is telling investors it carved out the Advent Vega book at the request of a prominent U.S. endowment. The minimum investment for the fund is $3 million, and separate accounts are available to investors willing to commit at least $50 million.
Carl Icahn Wants You! (To Fill Out All Sorts Of Paperwork To Get Revenge On The CEO Who Gave His Money To Warren Buffett) (Deal Breaker)
Even though after several entire seconds of searching for one we were unable to find Warren Buffett’s opinion about his apparent rival for the title of best investor of all time, Carl Icahn, we have a pretty good idea of what it might be. After all, Uncle Carl is an activist hedge fund manager and Donald Trump supporter, and Warren Buffett is not a fan of those things. For the same reasons, we can assume that Icahn has similar feelings towards Buffett, and especially one of Buffett’s recent deals. But if fact, even if the Occidental Petroleum-Andarko Petroleum tie-up financed by Buffett fills Icahn with rage—and it definitely does! -he’s got to hand it to the elder octogenarian.
New Hedge Fund Launches Rise (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – During the second quarter, 86 new hedge funds opened their doors, up from 69 launches in the first quarter. No CTAs were launched during the previous quarter, which “could be a knock-on effect of underperformance in 2018,” according to Preqin’s latest quarterly update on the hedge fund industry. Europe-based funds accounted for 36 percent of hedge fund launches in the second quarter, up from 23 percent in the first quarter. Over the previous four quarters, new hedge funds have steadily shifted their focus towards more region-specific opportunities in developed markets, away from having a broader global emphasis.
Ken Griffin’s Citadel is Losing a Longtime Money-manager and the COO of its Global Equities Business (Business Insider)
Ken Griffin’s Citadel is losing an executive and and a longtime portfolio manger from its global equities business, sources tell Business Insider. The departures come soon after a report that Citadel has poached money managers from a major rival – Steve Cohen’s Point72. Brian Conn, a portfolio manager covering financials for the global equities business, had been at Citadel since 2006, according to his LinkedIn, and is leaving the $31 billion hedge fund for personal reasons, a source familiar with the situation said.
