Starboard No Longer Urging Investors to Vote Against Bristol-Celgene deal (Reuters)
BOSTON (Reuters) – Activist hedge fund Starboard Value LP said on Friday it will no longer urge shareholders to oppose Bristol-Myers Squibb Co’s plans to buy Celgene Corp, even though it thinks the deal is too risky and will vote its own shares against it. On Friday Starboard announced its intention to withdraw its proxy solicitation to vote against the Celegene transaction.
Elliott Claims Victory as Vivendi Pulls Telecom Italia Vote (Bloomberg)
Vivendi SA abandoned an attempt to win back control of Telecom Italia SpA from allies of activist hedge fund Elliott Management Corp., signaling an end to a boardroom battle that has delayed an overhaul of the struggling phone company. Vivendi gave its support to Elliott-backed Chief Executive Officer Luigi Gubitosi at Telecom Italia’s annual shareholder meeting near Milan on Friday and withdrew a proposal to replace five directors aligned with the hedge fund after it became clear Vivendi would lose the vote.
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Hedge Fund Joins Agency in $9bn Nigeria Declare – Eire (Infosurhoy)
A hedge fund managed by VR Capital Group has taken a large stake in Process & Industrial Developments (P&ID), an energy company that won a claim against Nigeria which is now worth $9bn. P&ID, a small energy company founded by two Irishmen, is trying to make Nigeria settle or allow the company to start seizing assets, according to a report from Bloomberg. Nigeria did not honour a deal allowing the small natural gas company to harvest hydrocarbons.
Hedge Funds Continue Recovery in February (HedgeWeek)
The global hedge fund industry continued its recovery in February, gaining 0.97 per cent on an equal-weighted basis, and 0.40 per cent on an asset-weighted basis. Roughly 75.5 per cent of the hedge fund managers tracked by Eurekahedge recorded positive returns over the first two months of the year. Hedge fund closure activities soared during the final quarter of 2018, as fund managers struggled to mitigate the losses incurred by the equity market sell-offs in October and December. Eurekahedge recorded 296 fund liquidations within the period.
Can Hedge Funds Be Socially Responsible? (Barron’s)
Is the hedge-fund world getting…woke? The hedge fund Pharo Management has returned the money it managed for Saudi Arabia’s central bank following the murder of columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Pharo, which oversees almost $10 billion, gave back the $300 million or so it was investing for the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority, with Pharo’s founder Guillaume Fonkenell telling some investors that “the decision was made to uphold its principles due to concerns about Khashoggi’s death at the hands of government agents last year,” Bloomberg reported.
Women Running the Money? Rarely at Hedge Funds (Reuters)
LONDON (Reuters) – Generous salary and juicy bonus? Check. Client meetings at private members’ club? Check. Swanky Mayfair office? Check. Company maternity scheme? Maybe, we’ll get back to you. In the competition for talent, the hedge fund industry still has an edge over many other areas of finance, except, it would seem, when it comes to employing women. Women are in the minority across the financial industry when it comes to top jobs. A Reuters analysis of regulatory filings shows the proportion is especially low among British hedge funds, most of which are private and not bound by disclosure rules.
Insider Buying Activity Is Heating Up (The Street Real Money)
There have been several improvements over the last few days in the market. While none of these issues are definitively bullish in nature, we are of the opinion that they have tipped the scales just slightly enough to cause us to change our outlook. One improvement we are seeing is an observable increase in insider buying activity at the end of the quarter, which may imply greater confidence in upcoming earnings results. Let’s break it all down to see where things are headed.
Friday 3/29 Insider Buying Report: JMP, CMP (Nasdaq.com)
Bargain hunters are wise to pay careful attention to insider buying, because although there are many various reasons for an insider to sell a stock, presumably the only reason they would use their hard-earned cash to make a purchase, is that they expect to make money. Today we look at two noteworthy recent insider buys. On Wednesday, JMP Group (JMP)’s CEO, Joseph A. Jolson, made a $125,554 purchase of JMP, buying 31,469 shares at a cost of $3.99 each. Bargain hunters can pick up JMP at a price even lower than Jolson did, with shares trading as low as $3.89 in trading on Friday which is 2.5% below Jolson’s purchase price. JMP Group is trading trading flat on the day Friday. Before this latest buy, Jolson purchased JMP on 20 other occasions during the past year, for a total cost of $2.35M at an average of $4.70 per share.
The SEVP – Group President of TJX Companies is Exercising Options (AnalystRatings)
Today it was reported that the SEVP – Group President of TJX Companies (TJX), Kenneth Canestrari, exercised options to sell 31,920 TJX shares at $29.85 a share, for a total transaction value of $1.7M. Following Kenneth Canestrari’s last TJX Sell transaction on May 24, 2018, the stock climbed by 9.2%. In addition to Kenneth Canestrari, 7 other TJX executives reported Sell trades in the last month.
Insider Guessing Can Still Land You in Jail (NatLawReview.com)
The most basic story of insider trading goes something like this: a corporate insider learns secret company information in the course of doing her job. She then goes out and trades on it, making (or saving) a bunch of money. This is not allowed! The information was the company’s, not the insider’s, and when she misappropriated it to her own benefit in her trading activity, she violated the law.
Tiptree Inc (NASDAQ:TIPT) Insider Trading Activity – Chairman Bought 88,826 shares of Stock (MarketExclusive)
Insider Trading Activity For Tiptree Inc (NASDAQ:TIPT): Michael Gene Barnes , Chairman of Tiptree Inc (NASDAQ:TIPT) reportedly Bought 88,826 shares of the company’s stock at an average price of 6.29 for a total transaction amount of $558,715.54.
