United Development Funding IV Recommends Shareholders Reject Hedge Fund NexPoint’s Twelfth Extended Hostile Tender Offer (GlobeNewswire)
GRAPEVINE, Texas, Jan. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — United Development Funding IV (“UDF IV” or the “Trust”) announced that it recommends Trust shareholders reject the twelfth extended unsolicited tender offer made by hedge fund NexPoint Diversified Real Estate Trust (NexPoint), formerly the NexPoint Strategic Opportunities Fund, to purchase all Trust common shares (the “Shares”) for $1.10 per share (the “Tender Offer”). The Trust’s Board of Trustees (the “Board”) believes that NexPoint’s extended tender offer price of $1.10 per share represents a substantial discount to the Trust’s current value, and that other factors also lead to the conclusion that shareholders should reject the Tender Offer.
Commodities Hedge Funds Post Strong Gains for Second Year (Bloomberg Quint)
(Bloomberg) — Commodities hedge funds have posted strong returns for a second consecutive year in 2021 as the energy transition created trading opportunities from crude oil to base metals. The Bridge Alternatives Commodity Hedge Fund Index, which tracks some of the largest commodities-focused funds including Andurand Capital Management and CoreCommodity Management LLC, reported “positive double-digit performance” for 2020 and 2021, the firm said in a Wednesday statement.
Tesla Stock Could Slump 50% While 3 Legacy Automaker Pose Challenge to EV Leadership, Says Livermore Hedge Fund Manager (Business Insider)
In an interview with CNBC, the chief investment officer at Chicago-based hedge fund Livermore Partners, said shares could have a 50% downside in the event of an auto industry decline whenever that may be. Tesla CEO Elon Musk built the company “in a way that it almost only has downside,” Neuhauser told CNBC, adding that the company is going to face “tremendous pressure” from legacy automakers who were previously behind the curve in EVs.
Photo by Nicholas Cappello on Unsplash
Commodity Hedge Funds Post ‘Strong Performance’ in 2021 as Energy Transition Opportunity Looms (Hedge Week)
Commodity-focused hedge funds saw “strong performance” in 2021, with many seeing the energy transition towards renewables as a big opportunity and a USD3 billion uplift in investment across the index, according to Bridge Alternatives. The findings came as part of the Bridge Alternatives Commodity Hedge Fund Index, a monthly report which is designed as a benchmark to track the performance of the largest commodity-focused hedge funds globally.
Private Equity Outperformance Continues (Preqin)
Private equity’s growing exposure to the strong-performing technology sector has been a key factor in its success, but predicting the impact of inflation remains a challenge. Private equity returns have continued to outperform the public markets. Despite emerging-market-style CPI prints, both in the US and elsewhere, the backdrop for private equity performance remains fundamentally positive. US consumer prices increased 6.2% year-on-year to October 2021; this compares to the 4.7% inflation that Oxford Economics is forecasting for emerging markets in 2021.
85% of Hedge Funds Now Use JPMorgan’s Tool to Monitor Retail on Social Media (The Tokenist)
Hedge funds that were shorting GameStop (GME) and AMC Entertainment Holdings (AME) in 2021 took on huge losses after an army of retail traders gathered forces on social media and triggered a short squeeze. The managers involved in those sagas suffered billions in losses, and some even had to close their doors. To prevent such losses in the future, hedge funds are now ensuring that they do not fall on the “wrong side of meme-stock plays” by monitoring social media platforms and messaging boards commonly used by retail traders.
Buy or Sell AMZN? What Two Top Hedge Fund Managers Have to Say (The Street)
Goodreid Investment Counsel’s Gordon Reid believes 2022 will be Amazon’s year. Blue Whale’s Stephen Yiu thinks differently. Today the Amazon Maven compares an AMZN bull versus an AMZN bear. Top investment firms such as Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America are bullish on Amazon stock for 2022. Now it’s Goodreid Investment Counsel’s turn: CEO Gordon Reid has joined the club of AMZN bulls, naming the stock his top pick for 2022.
AMG, Systematica CEO Acquire BlueCrest’s Stake in Hedge Fund Systematica (Opalesque)
American international investment management company Affiliated Managers Group (AMG) and Systematica Investments founder Leda Braga have jointly acquired the remaining minority equity interest in hedge fund Systematica previously owned by a third-party investor. According to a Bloomberg report, the third-party investor was BlueCrest Capital Management. Billionaire Michael Platt‘s BlueCrest had kept an undisclosed equity stake in the $13 billion hedge fund firm after selling a part of its 49% holding to West Palm Beach, Florida-based AMG in 2015 when Braga spun out of the firm.
Wednesday 1/19 Insider Buying Report: THO, UNVR (Nasdaq.com)
On Friday, Thor Industries’s Director, Peter Busch Orthwein, made a $985,384 buy of THO, purchasing 10,000 shares at a cost of $98.54 a piece. Thor Industries is trading up about 1.9% on the day Wednesday. Before this latest buy, Orthwein made one other purchase in the past year, buying $1.03M shares at a cost of $103.41 each. And at Univar Solutions, there was insider buying on Friday, by Director Christopher D. Pappas who bought 5,000 shares at a cost of $27.88 each, for a total investment of $139,400. Before this latest buy, Pappas purchased UNVR on 3 other occasions during the past year, for a total cost of $499,930 at an average of $22.72 per share. Univar Solutions is trading off about 0.1% on the day Wednesday. Pappas was up about 1.2% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with UNVR trading as high as $28.22 in trading on Wednesday.
Peloton Insiders Sold Nearly $500 Million in Stock Before its Big Drop (NBC News)
Peloton executives and insiders sold nearly $500 million worth of their stock before the shares tanked, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company’s stock is down more than 80 percent from its highs last year, and it hit a 52-week low of $29.11 Tuesday. Yet the company’s CEO and other executives sold millions of shares at prices over $100 a share in the months leading up to the big declines.
