Lauren Taylor Wolfe (Barron’s)
Lauren Taylor Wolfe’s collaborative version of activist investing has borne results at Impactive Capital, the hedge fund she co-founded and helped grow to $3 billion in assets, up from $250 million in 2019. With a focus on environmental, social, and governance issues, Impactive owns a concentrated portfolio of fewer than a dozen companies where the firm can help unlock value. Its latest push has been at Envestnet, an underperforming fintech company that Impactive took a stake in last fall. Impactive recently won two board seats, one more than it requested.
Glencore Short-Sighted and Complacent Over Coal Spin Off: Hedge Fund (AFR.com)
The European hedge fund campaigning for Glencore to spin off its thermal coal business – largely located in Australia – has accused the conglomerate of wasting one and a half years arguing about the proposal before capitulating as part of a takeover of Teck Resources. In a letter to Glencore’s board, Bluebell Capital Partners said that “shareholders, us included, would be reasonable in their criticism of this short-sightedness, complacency, and lack of strategic thinking for not spinning off thermal coal in a timely manner”.
Harbour Capital Founder’s GFO-X Teams with London Stock Exchange for Crypto Clearing (Hedge Week)
Global Futures and Options, a digital assets-focused platform co-led by Arnab Sen, founder of Hong Kong-based hedge fund Harbour Capital Management, has teamed with the London Stock Exchange to launch a clearing service for crypto index futures and options trades. GFO-X, which is licensed by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority, is a start-up platform aimed at global institutional investors who want to trade digital asset derivatives. LSEG’s Paris-based LCH SA clearing unit will introduce a new, segregated clearing service, DigitalAssetClear, for cash-settled dollar-denominated digital assets traded on GFO-X.
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Top 10 Hedge Funds Made £1.5bn Profit from Ukraine War Food Price Spike (The Guardian)
Hedge funds have emerged as some of the biggest winners from the global food price spike that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the world’s 10 biggest hedge funds alone making profits estimated at nearly $2bn. Analysis of the profits of the top 10 hedge funds for the first quarter of last year shows they are likely to have made about $1.9bn (£1.5bn) from trading in two food commodities, grain and soya beans, in the run-up to and immediate aftermath of the invasion.
Commanders $6B Sale Would Break Record for Most Expensive Sports Team Purchase in U.S. History (AOL.com)
The Washington Commanders are reportedly being sold to billionaire hedge fund manager Josh Harris for a staggering $6 billion, a price tag that would smash the record for most expensive sports team sale in U.S. history. With the Commanders reportedly soon to be at the top of that list, let’s take a refreshed look at the 10 most expensive sports team sales. Were they also partially spurred by scandal and wrongdoing, like Dan Snyder’s sale of the Commanders? Let’s find out.
Hedge Fund Career Guide: What You Need to Know if You Want a Job at an Elite Firm Like Citadel, D.E. Shaw, or Point72 (Business Insider)
The war for the top hedge fund talent cuts across all levels and positions. Firms like Citadel, Point72, D.E. Shaw, and Bridgewater are in constant competition for the best and brightest to help them gain an edge in the cutthroat investment industry. These funds, which have grown into behemoths, are now contributing serious time and resources to recruit for internship and training programs that could better guarantee them a steady employee pipeline. Eye-popping pay, prestige, challenging work environments, and the promise of working with some of the best investors in the industry means they have a pretty attractive proposition to offer.
