Fund Administrator for Fortress, Pimco and Others Suffers Data Breach Through Vendor (The Wall Street Journal)
A ransomware attack against a vendor of SEI Investments Co. detected in May exposed the personal information of investors in roughly 100 of the fund administrator’s clients, according to people familiar with the matter. Angelo Gordon & Co., Graham Capital Management, Fortress Investment Group LLC, Centerbridge Partners and Pacific Investment Management Co. were among the funds whose investors were impacted by the attack, the people said. Some of SEI’s clients notified their investors of the breach earlier this month after SEI told them about the attack.
Billionaire Investor Ray Dalio Fears for the Dollar and the ‘Soundness of Our Money,’ and Here’s Why (Market Watch)
In our call of the day, billionaire investor Ray Dalio warned the conflict between the U.S. and China could develop into a “capital war,” which would hurt the U.S. dollar. “There’s a trade war, there’s a technology war, there’s a geopolitical war and there could be a capital war – that’s the reality,” Dalio said on Fox’s “Sunday Morning Futures.” “If you say by law, don’t invest in China or even possibly withholding the payment of bonds that the United States owes payment on in China, these things are possibilities and they have big implications, such as for the value of the dollar because premarket investors are not used to having those things dictated by the government,” he said. The Bridgewater Associates founder added that these difficult questions had to be “well-addressed” and it was a challenge for the government to get the policy right. The hedge fund firm laid off several dozen employees across the company this month.
US Hedge Funds Being Used for Money Laundering: FBI (Regulation Asia)
A leaked FBI bulletin says US hedge funds and private equity firms are being used to facilitate money laundering, organised crime, and sanctions evasion. Criminals are using private placements in US hedge funds and private equity firms to launder money and avoid reporting requirements, the FBI has assessed with “high confidence”, according to a leaked document. The classified FBI bulletin, dated 1 May, was released to the public by a “transparency collective” known as Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDOS), whose servers have since been seized by German authorities.
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Stellar Performance by Equity Strategies Drives Hedge Fund Gains (Preqin.com)
Hedge funds bounced back over Q2 2020 after a disappointing first quarter. The asset class returned +11.48% over the three months, the highest quarterly return since Q2 2009 (+14.62%). As lockdown restrictions for COVID-19 began to ease in many parts of the world, hedge funds capitalized on the rise in stock markets that resulted from government interventions and increases in consumer spending. While hedge fund investors will be encouraged by this performance, returns for the asset class are still slightly negative for the first half of 2020.
More Swedish HFs on SAVR (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Swedish fintech company SAVR has added more Nordic hedge funds to its commission-free fund platform. Launched in November of last year, the fund platform SAVR now offers its users the possibility to invest in Hamiltonian Global Credit Opportunity Fund, Origo Quest 1, Rhenman Healthcare Equity L/S, to name just a few Swedish hedge funds recently added to the platform. The Swedish hedge funds added recently to the fund offering on the SAVR platform also include Atlant Edge, DNB Fund TMT Absolute Return, RPM Evolving CTA, RPM Galaxy, Nordic Cross Credit Edge, Peak Core Strategies, Peak Equity Alpha, Peak Global Macro, Rhenman Global Opportunities L/S, and SEB Diversified. With the new additions, the fund platform now features about half of the 85 Swedish hedge funds included in the Nordic Hedge Index.
Hedge Fund Fees in Free Fall Is the New Reality For a Humbled Industry (Bloomberg)
Hedge-fund fees had already been shrinking before the pandemic ripped through global markets. Now, they’re in terminal decline. One of London’s fastest-growing hedge funds is enticing new investors by agreeing to forgo performance fees until returns hit a key threshold. In Hong Kong, a fund boss is offering to cover all losses, a concession that’s almost unheard of in this rarefied world. And famed investor Kyle Bass has told clients he’ll charge his usual 20% cut of profits only if he earns triple-digit returns in a new fund he has started.
Multi-Asset Fund Manager Fulcrum Seizes on “Fertile” Market Environment with Two New Hedge Fund Launches (Hedge Week)
Fulcrum Asset Management, the USD4.4 billion London-based multi-asset manager, is preparing to launch two new hedge fund strategies – an equity diversifier fund and a market neutral offering. The two funds, Fulcrum Equity Dispersion and Fulcrum Thematic Equity Market Neutral, are existing strategies carved out of the firm’s Diversified Absolute Return Fund. Fulcrum Equity Dispersion will launch as a separate fund after three years within the DAR strategy, having generated strong performance during volatile periods.
Hedge-Fund Case Could Prove Fresh Black Eye for U.S. Prosecutors (Bloomberg)
A federal judge in Manhattan demanded answers from prosecutors after a hedge-fund founder and trader convicted of mismarking securities produced documents they say show the government concealed evidence that might have cleared them. U.S. District Judge Katherine Polk Failla said on Friday she intended to hold a hearing on the matter, with the strong possibility of witness testimony. Saying the two men had asked her to “make some very very serious factual conclusions about the conduct of the government,” she gave federal prosecutors a month to make a full review of their handling of the case.
Warren Buffett’s $800 million Bet on Bank of America is Almost a Guaranteed Winner, Berkshire Hathaway Investor Bill Brewster Says (Business Insider)
Warren Buffett recently bought more than $800 million worth of Bank of America stock, boosting his Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate’s stake in the banking titan to north of 11%. The billionaire investor seized the chance to bolster his position in a quality company on the cheap, Bill Brewster, a Berkshire shareholder who runs Sullimar Capital Group and cohosts the “Value: After Hours” podcast, told Business Insider in a recent interview.
Notable Insider Buys: Guess, FedEx And More (Benzinga)
Insiders continued to add shares despite overall market volatility and economic uncertainty. Here are some of the most noteworthy insider purchases reported in the past week. Guess: Guess?, Inc. (GES) saw its chief executive, Carlos Alberini, purchase 100,000 shares recently via family trust. At per-share prices between $9.85 and $10.39, that totaled more than $1.01 million, and it brought his stake to almost 239,000 shares. The total float is more than 41 million shares. Frequency Therapeutics: A Frequency Therapeutics Inc (FREQ) director recently indirectly acquired more than 55,500 shares of this biotech for $18.00 apiece. That totaled just shy of $1 million. Note that two executives were selling smaller batches of shares throughout June and July.
The President and Managing Member of Crocker Ventures, of Merrimack Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: MACK) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the President and Managing Member of Crocker Ventures, of Merrimack Pharmaceuticals (MACK), Gary Crocker, sold shares of MACK for $596.1K. This is Crocker’s first Sell trade following 14 Buy transactions. In addition to Gary Crocker, 2 other MACK executives reported Sell trades in the last month.
