Top Hedge Fund Manager Kyle Bass on U.S.-China Relations Under Biden (CNBC)
Kyle Bass, Hayman Capital Management chief investment officer, joined “Squawk Box” on Wednesday to discuss what he thinks may be the biggest issues President-elect Joe Biden when it comes to U.S.-China relations.
Bitcoin Whale Emerges With $1 Billion, Alan Howard’s Backing (Bloomberg)
A hedge fund specializing in volatility bets has emerged as one of the largest investors in Bitcoin after quietly buying more than $600 million in cryptocurrencies and joining forces with Alan Howard, the co-founder of Brevan Howard Asset Management. Eric Peters, chief executive officer of One River Asset Management, said in an interview he set up a new company to seize on the growing interest in cryptocurrencies among institutional investors. In addition to its initial purchases, One River Digital Asset Management has commitments that will bring its holdings of Bitcoin and Ether to about $1 billion as of early 2021, he said.
Louis Bacon’s Life Work Is Complete (Deal Breaker)
Disputes between neighbors have a tendency to take on a life of their own, to grow out of all proportion to the disagreement at their heart. This is especially true of very rich neighbors, where even relatively piddling matters seem to proceed directly to harassment, property destruction and litigation. And so it is with discount Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard and American hedge fund mogul Louis Bacon. What began as a tiff over a driveway in the tony Bahamas enclave of Lyford Cay (one that was actually settled seven years ago) exploded into a full-on blood feud adorned with allegations of military-grade speakers, arson, insider-trading and attempted murder.
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Hedge Funds Up 5.54 per cent in November, Says Backstop BarclayHedge (Hedge Week)
The hedge fund industry reversed two consecutive months of losses in November, returning 5.54 per cent for the month, according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index, compiled by BarclayHedge, a division of Backstop Solutions. By comparison, the S&P 500 Total Return Index was up 10.9 per cent for November. For the year-to-date, the hedge fund industry was up 7.21 per cent through November. The S&P 500 Total Return Index gained 14.02 per cent over the same period.
Hedge Fund Performance Update: November 2020 (Preqin)
The Preqin All-Strategies Hedge Fund benchmark had a very strong November. Market optimism due to successful vaccine trials fueled gains of 7.45%. This pushed the 2020 YTD return to +13.27% and the 12-month return to +15.19%. By comparison, the S&P 500 gained 10.75% on the month to stand at +12.10% YTD. This factsheet presents the hedge fund performance benchmarks for October 2020. Plus, the YTD and 12-month return figures for all top-level strategies, structures, denominations, and size classifications.
Global Hedge Funds Industry AUM Up $128bn Over Past Eight Months Despite Investor Outflows (Opalesque.com)
Assets under management for the global hedge funds industry have rebounded increasing by US$128.0 billion over the past eight months since March 2020, said Eurekahedge. This has come from performance-driven gains of US$139.8 billion and net investor outflows of US$11.8 billion. This marks a sharp recovery following a US$264.1 billion asset decline in Q1 2020, revealed the December 2020 Eurekahedge Report. Meanwhile, hedge fund managers recorded their strongest return since 2009 and were up 4.50% in November, supported by the strong performance of the global equity market as represented by the MSCI ACWI (Local) which generated an 11.63% return throughout the month.
Formuepleje’s 2020 Performance Turnaround (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Formuepleje’s Fokus fund is up by 7.11% for the year to November 11th, after a drawdown in the first quarter. In contrast, its benchmark had a larger drawdown and a shallower recovery – it is only up 0.23% for the year to the same date. The benchmark is the Nordea mortgages index applying the leverage of around four times. The Formuepleje Fokus strategy has not varied its leverage over 2020. Active management explains the outperformance.
Madoff Hedge Fund Victims Get Their Due (GreenStreet)
Twelve years after authorities charged Bernard Madoff with orchestrating the largest financial fraud in history, investors in a fund that funneled money to the crooked financier have finally been made whole, with an investment gain of 50.4% as something of a salve. And investors in a second fund that parked money with Madoff are expected to get their final distributions early next year, with a similarly robust return. Both vehicles, Ariel Fund and Gabriel Fund, were among four funds once run by disgraced hedge fund manager J. Ezra Merkin, who took in more than $400 million of management and performance fees through his Gabriel Capital for supposedly actively managing the funds when he in fact ceded control of much of the money to Madoff. Madoff, in turn, fabricated big returns and falsified assets, leading the investors to believe they were profiting handsomely.
Wednesday 12/16 Insider Buying Report: IGMS, ALXO (Nasdaq.com)
On Friday, IGM Biosciences’ Director, M. Kathleen Behrens, made a $4M buy of IGMS, purchasing 44,444 shares at a cost of $90.00 each. IGM Biosciences is trading up about 3.2% on the day Wednesday. Before this latest buy, Behrens made one other buy in the past year, purchasing $1.82M shares at a cost of $60.78 each. And on Monday, Director G. Walmsley Graham bought $1.52M worth of ALX Oncology Holdings, buying 20,000 shares at a cost of $76.00 each. Before this latest buy, Graham made one other buy in the past twelve months, purchasing $18.53M shares at a cost of $19.00 each. ALX Oncology Holdings is trading up about 2.6% on the day Wednesday. So far Graham is in the green, up about 11.4% on their buy based on today’s trading high of $84.68.
What Did This CEO Just Do with Personal Shares of SEACOR Holdings (NYSE: CKH)? (Analyst Ratings)
On December 14, the Executive Chairman and CEO of SEACOR Holdings (CKH), Charles Fabrikant, sold shares of CKH for $3.42M. Following Charles Fabrikant’s last CKH Sell transaction on March 24, 2020, the stock climbed by 14.8%. This is Fabrikant’s first Sell trade following 3 Buy transactions.
Elastic Nv (ESTC) CEO and Chairman Shay Banon Sold $59.4 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO and Chairman of Elastic Nv, Shay Banon, sold 424,559 shares of ESTC on 12/15/2020 at an average price of $139.81 a share. The total sale was $59.4 million. Elastic NV has a market cap of $12.03 billion; its shares were traded at around $137.680000 with and P/S ratio of 22.54.
Insider Trading Conviction for Ex UBS Compliance Officer Upheld, Says Watchdog (Reuters)
LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Appeal Court has upheld the convictions of Fabiana Abdel-Malek and Walid Choucair for insider dealing, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said on Wednesday. After an FCA investigation and a trial at Southwark Crown Court, in June 2019, former UBS compliance officer Abdel-Malik, and her day-trader friend Choucair were each convicted of five offences of insider dealing and were sentenced to 3 years’ imprisonment.
