Elliott Management Holds Big Dropbox Stake (The Wall Street Journal)
Elliott Management Corp. has taken a sizable stake in software company Dropbox Inc., the latest target for the activist hedge fund, according to people familiar with the matter. Elliott has told Dropbox it is the company’s largest shareholder after Chief Executive Officer Drew Houston, the people said. That suggests the hedge fund owns a stake of more than 10%, worth well over $800 million. The two sides have been in talks since earlier this year.
Hedge Fund Bear Russell Clark Puts Bitcoin Valuation Model Under Scrutiny (Hedge Week)
Well-known hedge fund bear Russell Clark is questioning how valuable bitcoin is under the stock-to-flow model, a framework traditionally used for precious metals such as gold and platinum, in light of recent sharp price volatility. In a market commentary this week, Clark – who leads global equities asset manager Russell Clark Investment Management – threw the spotlight onto how the world’s foremost cryptocurrency is valued. As a digital asset, the supply of bitcoin is designed to fall by half every four years, which strengthens its value in a stock-to-flow model. Under this system, bitcoin starts like platinum, with large flow and small stock, and ends like gold with large stock and small flow, Clark explained.
The Hedge-Fund Founder Jason Karp Found More Meaning in his Career After Leaving Wall Street Behind. He Says Others in Finance will Follow. (Business Insider)
For Jason Karp, working in finance was rewarding. He made millions, won awards, and started a business that employed dozens of people. But in 2018, after a couple of tough years at his hedge fund, Tourbillon, he left the only industry he’d ever worked in to dive into a space that he now sees is his true passion: healthy foods.
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Last Week’s IPOs Delivered Gains for Viking and Other Major Hedge Funds (Institutional Investor)
Viking, Deerfield, RA Capital, and Perceptive were among investors in three companies that successfully went public at the end of May. Viking Global Investors was one of four hedge fund firms that have seen strong paper gains from three companies that successfully went public last week.The gains are a reminder of why hedge funds have been aggressively investing in private companies over the past few years.
SPACs: Raise, Rest, Raise, Compete (Preqin)
The SPAC boom is spluttering, but market dynamics point to a recovery and increased transactions between SPACs and PEVC. If 2020 was the year of the special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), there are no superlatives to describe the first quarter of 2021. The Q1 total of $88bn raised by 320 blank-check companies eclipsed the $76bn raised in the whole of 2020, according to Standard & Poor’s. The brakes were slammed in April, with just 10 IPOs raising gross proceeds of $17bn in April and May, according to calculations based on SPAC insider data.
Hedge Fund Assets Soar to Record High Amid Boom in Trading Profits (CNBC)
The pandemic era has been great for hedge funds, which have seen their assets boom to a record amid high hopes for the economy and huge government spending. Total assets for the industry swelled to $4.07 trillion as of the end of March, according to the most recent data from BarclayHedge. Assets under management first topped the $4 trillion mark in February.
Volatility Hedge Fund Dominicé Eyes Inflation Risk Opportunities (Hedge Week)
Investor caution over current inflation risks will see volatility remain at elevated levels, in turn offering rich investment opportunities for vol arbitrage trades, according to Dominicé & Co Asset Management, whose long-running flagship strategy continues to ride high this year. Having scored a 13.3 per cent annual return last year, the Geneva-based firm’s equity volatility and derivatives-focused hedge fund Cassiopeia has advanced about 4.5 per cent so far this year, with successful calls across the S&P 500 and VIX complex driving this year’s returns.
