Hedge Funds: What have Bill Ackman and Paul Singer been Buying This Quarter? (CMCMarkets.com)
Hedge fund managers Bill Ackman, Paul Singer, Dan Loeb and David Tepper have had an active third quarter. In their 13F filings, their hedge funds bought and sold several high profile stocks. But what’s the rationale for the moves? And who’s looking at the biggest upside? Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management: Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management cut its holdings in ADP [ADP]. ADP’s share price is up almost 32% this year and had accounted for 10% of Pershing’s portfolio.
Hedge Fund Elliott Keeps Up Pressure on Capgemini for Higher Altran Offer (Reuters)
PARIS (Reuters) – Activist hedge fund Elliott tried again to squeeze a higher offer from France’s Capgemini for rival Altran, saying why it thought the offer undervalued the company in which the fund manager holds a stake. Elliott has built up a stake of just over 10% in Altran through equity derivatives. It has already said it thought software consultancy Capgemini’s 14 euro per share, or 3.6 billion-euro ($4 billion) bid for rival Altran, was too low. It argued on Wednesday that other deals in the sector had carried higher premiums. “Elliott believes the offer price neither reflects Altran’s intrinsic fair value, nor an adequate premium for control”, Elliott said in a statement.
Prosecutors: Former Och-Ziff Hedge Fund Owes Investors Restitution (Pensions&Investments)
Hedge fund Sculptor Capital Management Ltd. should pay a group of former investors “at least $150 million” to restore losses suffered when the firm formally known as Och-Ziff Capital Management was convicted in a bribery scheme, said lawyers for the Department of Justice. The government’s position in a court filing Nov. 22 represents a departure from a March 2018 filing that it had not concluded the former shareholders of the now-defunct Canadian mining company Africo Resources Ltd. were entitled to restitution because they had not proved the cause and degree of harm after they lost rights to an African mine during the bribery scandal.
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Hedge Fund Guru Sees Ripples of a Major Market Upheaval Ahead (RealDaily.com)
During a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Seth Klarman, one of the most successful investors in the world, raised concerns about a number of factors that could adversely impact the direction of the world economy. He also suggested that undue investor optimism, particularly in the United States, might not be warranted as financial markets could be sailing into uncharted waters. Klarman reiterated some of these forebodings in his 2019 letter to investors, an annual memo addressed to limited partners of his Baupost hedge fund. In the letter, Klarman addressed several notable areas of concern.
Q3 2019 Hedge Fund Asset Flows (Preqin.com)
For the sixth consecutive quarter, hedge fund outflows surpassed capital inflows, with the hedge fund industry losing $34.4bn in capital during Q3 2019. In spite of this, industry assets under management have expanded by 3.5% since the end of 2018, bolstered by strong performance. Only CTAs, niche strategies and credit strategies generated inflows this quarter – event driven strategies lost $15bn, the most of any strategy in Q3 2019. All regions experienced outflows barring North America, which received $10.6bn in inflows. In this Q3 2019 Hedge Fund Asset Flows factsheet, we present the latest asset flow data, including breakdowns by past performance and fund size.
Bring Them Home (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Of the seven Nordic hedge funds nominated for this year’s HFM European Emerging Manager Awards, three collected awards at yesterday’s awards ceremony in London. Danske Invest Fixed Income Global Value, Formue Nord Markedsneutral and Origo Quest 1 were the winners in their respective award categories. Danske Invest Fixed Income Global Value, managed by Anders Møller Lumholtz, received the top prize in the “Fixed Income: Over $100 million” category ahead of Norwegian fund Borea Høyrente and two other non-Nordic vehicles. Launched in June of last year, the Danske fund generated a cumulative return of 13.3 percent since inception after gaining 10.8 percent year-to-date.
Exclusive: Hedge Fund Citadel’s Commodities Business Up About $1 Billion for the Year – Sources (Reuters)
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Citadel’s commodities investments are up at least $1 billion for the year, according to three sources familiar with the matter, helping to drive strong overall performance at one of the world’s largest hedge funds. Citadel, which manages more than $30 billion in assets, has profited from a strong performance in European natural gas and power trading, two of the sources said. Its flagship Wellington fund has gained more than 15% this year through October, one source close to the fund said. A spokesperson for Citadel, led by Chicago billionaire Ken Griffin, declined to comment.
Hedge Fund Rules That Keep Out Not-So-Rich Poised for SEC Revamp (Bloomberg)
U.S. rules that determine who can invest in hedge funds and private equity are poised to get their most sweeping overhaul in years, though it’s unclear how much the changes will expand the pool of potential clients. In the coming weeks, the Securities and Exchange Commission will likely unveil a plan for updating the accredited investor standard, a bedrock that lays out the criteria for investing in riskier — and potentially more lucrative — private funds, said two people familiar with the matter.
Bacon-backed Hedge Fund Stone Milliner Asset Management to Shutter (SwfInstitute.com)
London-based Stone Milliner Asset Management, LLP is a macro hedge fund founded in 2011 that has its origins with former Moore Capital Management traders – Jens-Peter Stein, Kornelius Klobucar, and Chris Nicoll. Stone Milliner Asset Management is shutting down after poor performance, which then led to client redemptions. At the end of October 2019, Stone Milliner Asset Management oversaw roughly US$ 3 billion in assets from its US$ 6.1 billion peak. Moore Capital Management provided seed funding for Stone Milliner Asset Management.
U.S. Hedge Fund Exec Gets Jail Time in US$100 million Mismarking Scheme (InvestmentExecutive.com)
A former hedge fund chief has been sentenced to over four years in jail after being convicted in a US$100 million securities mismarking scheme. The founder and CEO of Premium Point Investments LP, Anilesh Ahuja, was sentenced to 50 months in prison and three years of supervised release after a jury convicted him of various fraud-related offences in connection with a scheme to inflate the net asset value of its funds by more than US$100 million. “PPI fraudulently obtained inflated quotes, including from corrupt brokers, and manipulated its valuation process to inflate the purported value of securities held by the funds,” said the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ).
Netflix Inc (NFLX) CEO Reed Hastings Sold $17 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO of Netflix Inc., Reed Hastings, sold 54,516 shares of NFLX on 11/25/2019 at an average price of $312.04 a share. The total sale was $17 million. Netflix Inc provides multimedia content through the internet. It provides a subscription based platform for television shows, movies and original series. Netflix Inc has a market cap of $137.26 billion; its shares were traded at around $313.20 with a P/E ratio of 100.06 and P/S ratio of 7.50.
The EVP, Group President-EAME of Hyatt Hotels (NYSE: H) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the EVP, Group President-EAME of Hyatt Hotels (H), Peter Fulton, sold shares of H for $928.9K. Based on Hyatt Hotels’ latest earnings report for the quarter ending September 30, the company posted quarterly revenue of $1.22 billion and quarterly net profit of $296 million. In comparison, last year the company earned revenue of $1.07 billion and had a net profit of $237 million. The company has a one-year high of $81.57 and a one-year low of $63.45. Currently, Hyatt Hotels has an average volume of 587.29K.
Copart Inc (CPRT) CEO A Jayson Adair Sold $63.5 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO of Copart Inc., A Jayson Adair, sold 702,686 shares of CPRT on 11/26/2019 at an average price of $90.37 a share. The total sale was $63.5 million. Copart Inc provides online auctions and vehicle remarketing services in United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Brazil. The company offers vehicle sellers with services to process and sell vehicles over the internet.
Goldman Sachs to Pay $1 Million for Recordkeeping Violations (HedgeCo.Net)
(HedgeCo.Net) The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has issued an order filing and simultaneously settling charges against Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC for failing to make and keep certain audio recordings as required under CFTC regulations for swap dealers. The order requires Goldman to pay a $1,000,000 civil monetary penalty and to cease and desist from further violations of Commission regulations, as charged. The order also finds that Goldman’s failure impeded an unrelated investigation conducted by the Division of Enforcement (Division). “Registrants must comply with the Commission’s recordkeeping requirements, as with all other applicable laws,” said CFTC Enforcement Director James McDonald. “When they do not, we are committed to holding them accountable. This action reinforces the critical importance of recordkeeping requirements to the CFTC’s enforcement mission.”
