Some Hedge Funds are Financing Trades for Other Hedge Funds (Risk.net)
Seldom have so few lent money to so many. The number of large banks offering prime brokerage to hedge funds has shrunk, partly owing to the bumper losses suffered by a string of banks after the collapse of family office Archegos in March. Meanwhile, the crowd of hedge funds clamouring for prime services has grown. The total number of firms is up by a third in the past seven years, and hedge fund portfolio holdings reached $4 trillion this year.
A Secretive Hedge Fund is Gutting Newsrooms (The Atlantic)
Inside Alden Global Capital: The tribune tower rises above the streets of downtown Chicago in a majestic snarl of Gothic spires and flying buttresses that were designed to exude power and prestige. When plans for the building were announced in 1922, Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the longtime owner of the Chicago Tribune, said he wanted to erect “the world’s most beautiful office building” for his beloved newspaper. The best architects of the era were invited to submit designs; lofty quotes about the Fourth Estate were selected to adorn the lobby. Prior to the building’s completion, McCormick directed his foreign correspondents to collect “fragments” of various historical sites – a brick from the Great Wall of China, an emblem from St. Peter’s Basilica – and send them back to be embedded in the tower’s facade.
Quant Hedge Fund Aspect Shrugs Off China Risk With New Strategy (Bloomberg)
Quant hedge fund firm Aspect Capital is raising money for a strategy that offers foreign clients access to Chinese markets at a time many of its peers are backing away from the country. The $9.3 billion London-based money manager started trading for an algorithm-driven fund this week, betting on China’s markets for obscure and unique tradable assets such as eggs, liquid glass and hot-rolled coil. The fund launched with $100 million in seed capital and is in talks with clients to raise more money, Chief Executive Officer Anthony Todd said in an interview. It can manage as much as $1.5 billion.
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New Path Into Swedish VC (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Swedish fund management firm AIFM Capital has partnered up with Nordic Tech Fund Group to launch an NGM-listed alternative investment fund that offers exposure to unlisted Swedish technology companies. The actively-managed venture capital fund named Nordic Tech Fund invests in unlisted tech companies at an early stage, an opportunity usually reserved for wealthy individuals and venture capital firms.
‘Big Short’ Investor Michael Burry Teases a Bet Against Crypto – and Warns Market Speculation has Reached Historic Levels (Business Insider)
Michael Burry, who made his name and fortune by betting against the housing bubble, has set his sights on a new target: cryptocurrencies. “Ok, I haven’t done this before, how do you short a cryptocurrency?” he said in a now-deleted tweet this week. “Do you have to secure a borrow? Is there a short rebate? Can the position be squeezed and called in?”
Hedge Funds Count the Cost of September Slide (Hedge Week)
Hedge funds’ overall momentum in 2021 has been halted, with managers across a range of strategy classes left counting the cost of September’s bumpy equity and credit market reversal, new industry data published this week shows. On average, hedge fund managers have made gains of more than 8 per cent since the start of this year – but last month’s market turbulence saw most strategy sub-sectors slide into the red, according to separate performance data released by eVestment and BarclayHedge.
Kyle Bass’s Disastrous Hong Kong Short Got Bannon-Linked Cash (Bloomberg)
A recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission case reveals how Kyle Bass’s bet against the Hong Kong dollar has fizzled: He’s lost big, ensnaring some investors who funded his short through what the regulator says was an illicit stock offering. The details were laid out in a September SEC enforcement action that describes illegal financing of an ambitious startup that sought to expose corruption involving Chinese government officials. The startup — GTV Media Group, with ties to self-professed billionaire Guo Wengui and ex-Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon — raised $339 million through an unregistered share sale last year, according to the SEC.
The Buy Side’s Big Bet on Cloud: Here’s How firms Like Point72, Blackstone, and Millennium are Leveraging the Tech to their Advantage (Business Insider)
The buy side is aiming for the clouds. Top hedge funds, investment firms, and private-equity shops are turning to public clouds managed by Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, and IBM. Specific motivating factors for the switch varies at individual firms, but a common theme among nearly all of them is the realization that the public cloud is a more cost-effective option than physical data centers.
Maverick’s Free Fall (Institutional Investor)
Another month, another decline for Maverick Fund, the hedge fund headed by Tiger Cub Lee Ainslie III. The long-short fund lost another 3 percent in September and 16.5 percent in the third quarter. As a result, Maverick is now up just 18 percent for the year after surging 50 percent in…
Hedge Funds Are Feasting on ESG’s Profit Leftovers: Mark Gilbert (Advisor Perspectives)
Asset managers are under increasing pressure to stop investing in companies that worsen the climate emergency through heavy carbon emissions. But recent events suggest that engaging with these companies beats disinvestment as a strategy to improve their environmental performance. Hedge funds have been making outsized profits buying discarded shares of oil and gas companies, the Financial Times reported last week. Institutional investors “are all so keen to get rid of oil assets, they’re leaving fantastic returns on the table,” Crispin Odey of Odey Asset Management told the newspaper. His European fund has gained more than 100% this year, boosted by investments including Norwegian oil company Aker BP, whose shares have risen by more than a third.
Secretive Family Hedge Funds in Fight for Money and Talent (AFR.com)
You’ve probably never heard of Ryan Tolkin, the 34-year-old head of global hedge fund Schonfeld. And if you’ve never heard of Schonfeld, that’s because, for most of its existence, it has not taken a dollar of outside capital. It was founded in 1998 by maths genius Steven Schonfeld who developed profitable short-term trading strategies. Over time, he recruited hundreds of traders to replicate it, growing his family office and his wealth.
Glaxo Board and Activist Hedge Fund Bluebell Spar in New Letters (Bloomberg)
GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s board hit back at Bluebell Capital Partners after the activist hedge fund called for the removal of both the chairman and chief executive officer. GSK Chairman Jonathan Symonds wrote to Bluebell’s partners on Wednesday, saying the drugmaker was “disappointed” in their account of an investor meeting aimed at updating investors on progress toward spinning off the consumer unit. In the letter seen by Bloomberg, Symonds said remarks made at the forum were taken out of context, and he backed steps CEO Emma Walmsley and her team have taken to improve the company’s performance.
Thursday 10/14 Insider Buying Report: SLGG, ATNX (Nasdaq.com)
At Super League Gaming, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Tuesday, Mark Jung purchased 16,010 shares of SLGG, at a cost of $3.12 each, for a total investment of $49,898. Jung was up about 17.7% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with SLGG trading as high as $3.67 in trading on Thursday. Super League Gaming is trading up about 5.5% on the day Thursday. This purchase marks the first one filed by Jung in the past year. And at Athenex, there was insider buying on Friday, by Director Jinn WU who bought 10,000 shares at a cost of $2.67 each, for a total investment of $26,700. Before this latest buy, WU made one other buy in the past year, purchasing $161,000 shares at a cost of $3.22 each. Athenex is trading up about 2.8% on the day Thursday. WU was up about 6.4% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with ATNX trading as high as $2.84 at last check today.
The Chief Executive Officer of Link Global Technologies (Other OTC: LGLOF) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Today, the Chief Executive Officer of Link Global Technologies (LGLOF), Stephen Jenkins, bought shares of LGLOF for $2,350. This recent transaction increases Stephen Jenkins’ holding in the company by 1% to a total of $273.5K. Based on Link Global Technologies’ latest earnings report for the quarter ending May 31, the company posted quarterly revenue of $836.1K and quarterly net profit of $925.1K. In comparison, last year the company earned revenue of $52.91K and had a GAAP net loss of $416K. Currently, Link Global Technologies has an average volume of 60.76K. The company has a one-year high of $1.36 and a one-year low of $0.17
