Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio Backs China Despite Trade War Escalation (CNBC)
Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, urged investors to have bets on “both horses in the race” amid rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China. In a video posted online Tuesday, Dalio argued that investors still have a historic opportunity to buy into China as it opens up its markets to foreign investments.
US Hedge Fund Titan Steve Cohen Takes 5.1% Stake in Luckin Coffee (ChinaKnowledge.com)
Aug 07, 2019 (China Knowledge) – Wall Street billionaire Steven Cohen‘s hedge fund Point72 Asset Management has acquired a 5.1% stake in China’s Luckin Coffee, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday. The transaction gave Steven Cohen control over 17 million American depositary shares of Luckin, worth roughly USD 390 mln as of market close yesterday. Cohen is one of the most successful hedge fund managers on Wall Street, known as founder of SAC Capital Advisors. However, Cohen is not the first Wall Street giant to bet on China’s Luckin Coffee. In April, BlackRock invested USD 150 mln in Luckin ahead of its IPO.
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Hedge Fund Investor Tarrant, Who Bet with Warren Buffett, Dies (Reuters)
BOSTON (Reuters) – Investor Jeffrey Tarrant, whose firm Protege Partners backed billionaire managers including William Ackman and Marc Lasry early in their careers and made a bet with Warren Buffett that hedge funds would outperform a passive index fund, has died at age 63. Tarrant died on Aug. 5 at his home in Bridgehampton, New York, his firm said, giving the cause of death as brain cancer.
Riches to Rags: Hedge Funds and Retailers Don’t Mix (The Wall Street Journal)
Barneys New York owner Richard Perry isn’t the only deep-pocketed money manager to watch over the decline of a storied retailer. Investors from Eddie Lampert – once lauded as the next Warren Buffett – to Bill Ackman have taken on clothing chains only to walk away with their wallets and reputations in tatters. The retailers’ fates might not have otherwise been any different, but the managers could have done without the experience.
Oil Producer QEP Ends Sale Process, Settles with Activist Elliott (Reuters)
(Reuters) – QEP Resources (QEP.N) will remain an independent oil and gas producer after ending a half-year process to sell itself without a deal, the company said on Wednesday, deciding instead to work with a rebuffed suitor to identify further cost savings. At the start of the year, Paul Singer’s $38 billion hedge fund Elliott Management Corp, which owns 4.9% of QEP, offered $2.07 billion for the Denver-based company, saying it was undervalued despite having good acreage in the Permian Basin, the largest U.S. shale oilfield.
Private Equity Shop Preps Debt Hedge Fund (HFAlert.com)
Antarctica Capital, which runs a $2 billion private equity fund, is crafting a debt-focused hedge fund. The New York firm plans to launch the vehicle in the fourth quarter with $50 million to $100 million. Antarctica recently hired two veteran debt investors, and now is in the process of selecting a prime broker and other service providers. The fund would take an opportunistic approach to trading credit instruments, with an emphasis on structured products. Antarctica believes the vehicle would be well positioned to capitalize on market dislocations it expects to materialize in the coming years. In June, the firm hired Andrew Jarmolkiewicz as portfolio manager for the new fund. He previously spent nearly 10 years running WestCay Asset Management in the Bahamas, and earlier was a co-founder of London-based debt shop Cairn Capital.
Woodford and Invesco Hit as Burford Crashes on Short Attack (Citywire.co.uk)
Fund managers Neil Woodford and Mark Barnett have been hit by a short-selling attack on one of their biggest holdings, litigation financier Burford Capital (BURF). Shares in the Alternative Investment Market-listed stock, which counts Woodford Investment Management and Barnett’s employer Invesco as its two biggest backers, have crashed on the attack from US hedge fund Muddy Waters Research.
