Hedge Fund Ides Ask Monro to Pressure Shareholder Preventing Company Sale (Reuters)
July 14 (Reuters) – Hedge fund Ides Capital on Thursday asked U.S. car service and tire center operator Monro Inc (MNRO.O) to pressure its controlling shareholder to drop a veto to a sale of the company. In a letter to Monro seen by Reuters, Dianne McKeever, Ides co-founder and chief investment officer, said she was “aware” that potential buyers of the company had been rebuffed. She did not disclose the source of this information in the letter.
Investors Yank Billions from UK Funds Brooks Macdonald, Polar Capital, Ashmore as ‘Bear Market Sell-Off’ Takes Hold (Financial News)
Polar Capital said the drop in assets was driven by ‘the bear market sell-off, net outflows, fund closures and fund performance’. As listed managers begin to issue their financial figures for the quarter ended June, the impact of the market rout earlier this year is starting to show in asset and inflow readings, with concerns being raised over macroeconomic headwinds such as inflation, war in Ukraine, and political uncertainty. Wealth manager Brooks Macdonald said on 13 July that declining global markets had contributed to a 5.9% drop in funds under management to £15.7bn. Investment performance for the quarter delivered a reduction in funds under management…
Dalio, Making the Case for Pessimism, Has Thrived This Year by Selling Short (AI-CIO.com)
Ray Dalio, the billionaire hedge fund impresario and lately a public philosopher, has some advice for investors, both pros and amateurs: Don’t be too optimistic. Sometimes, in a struggling economy, it pays to be a pessimist, wrote the founder and co-CIO of the world’s largest hedge fund firm, Bridgewater Associates, in a LinkedIn post. He ought to know. Bridgewater’s flagship fund, Pure Alpha II, clocked a 32.2% gain in this year’s first half, according to a source familiar with the firm. A chunk of that return appears to be from the fund’s shorting stocks in Europe, where equities are under pressure due to energy shortages and other fallout from the Russia-Ukraine war.
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Stefan Skrimsjö Back to Take the Reins (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Stefan Skrimsjö has been appointed as the new manager of Kreditfonden’s Scandinavian Credit Fund I and Nordic Factoring Fund to replace founder and CIO Fredrik Sjöstrand, who will switch to working full time at Kreditfonden’s sister company Riddargatan Förvaltning. This sister company operates as an owner company of the loans where the two lending funds have realized pledged assets.
Hedge Fund Losses Widen As Less Than 30 Percent Of Reporting Funds Were Positive In June (Forbes)
Hedge funds struggled in June, with their losses widening month over month. Hedge funds are in the red again for another straight month: Overall, funds administered by Citco declined 2.4% in June, adding to May’s loss of 1.1%. Hedge funds recorded negative results in April as well, declining 2.9%. The overall weighted average return was -2.4%, while the median return was -2.1%, a small dispersion which shows that larger hedge funds struggled more than smaller ones.
Sector in Focus: An LP’s Guide to Investing in Petrochemicals (Preqin)
The rapidly expanding petrochemicals industry is undergoing some significant structural changes, catalyzed by the recent energy crisis. As demand for plastic and oil grows worldwide, so does production pollution and waste. This report explores the petrochemicals space and its investors’ increasing efforts to curb this pollution, increase recycling capacities, and develop both bio-based and renewable products, all while maintaining exposure to the industry.
Hedge Fund Veteran Michael Wang Likens His New Venture to FinTwit — Without the Noise (Institutional Investor)
Prometheus, backed by Peter Thiel and others, is a platform to connect alternative managers with allocators. Michael Wang thought there was a need for a social media investing platform that was the opposite of WallStreetBets. People like Peter Thiel agreed and backed him. Last year, Wang, a veteran of Steve Cohen’s Point72 and Robert Day’s Cypress, raised $5 million in seed funding for Prometheus, a social marketplace he designed to connect alternative managers with mainstream and institutional investors. Last month, Prometheus sent out its first exclusive invitations for users to join the app.
Hedge Fund Bet Against Musk Boosts Twitter Shares (Hedge Week)
Twitter shares have been given a boost following news that hedge fund Hindenburg Research has taken a stake in the firm on the basis that it sees a “strong case” against Elon Musk for moving to back out of his $44 billion buyout bid, according to AFP. The social media platform, which began legal action earlier this week to force Musk to complete his proposed take-over, saw its stock price jump 8 per cent in trading. The report cites Hindenburg Research found Nathan Anderson as confirming that the fund has acquired a “significant” stake in Twitter, but less than the five per cent threshold that would trigger a filing with the US SEC.
Thursday 7/14 Insider Buying Report: PLAY, CNXC (Nasdaq.com)
At Dave & Busters Entertainment, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Wednesday, Chief Executive Officer Christopher Daniel Morris purchased 33,400 shares of PLAY, at a cost of $30.54 each, for a total investment of $1.02M. So far Morris is in the green, up about 6.1% on their buy based on today’s trading high of $32.39. Dave & Busters Entertainment is trading off about 0.1% on the day Thursday. This purchase marks the first one filed by Morris in the past year. And at Concentrix, there was insider buying on Tuesday, by Chief Financial Officer Andre S. Valentine who purchased 2,500 shares for a cost of $126.99 each, for a total investment of $317,475. This buy marks the first one filed by Valentine in the past twelve months. Concentrix is trading down about 0.6% on the day Thursday. Investors can bag CNXC even cheaper than Valentine did, with shares trading as low as $122.80 in trading on Thursday — that’s 3.3% under Valentine’s purchase price.
$250 Million Bet On Occidental Petroleum? 3 Stocks Insiders Are Buying (Benzinga)
Occidental Petroleum: The Trade: Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) 10% owner Warren E Buffett acquired a total of 4,304,146 shares at an average price of $58.05. To acquire these shares, it cost around $249.84 million. Shake Shack: The Trade: Shake Shack Inc. (SHAK) Director Michael McQuinn acquired a total of 21,000 shares at an average price of $39.58. To acquire these shares, it cost around $831.24 thousand.
