Marshall Wace Long-Short Fund Reports Record Loss (Bloomberg)
A Marshall Wace hedge fund that bets on rising and falling stocks slumped to a record loss in January, as the U.S. market was shaken by a short squeeze driven by retail investors. The $4.4 billion MW Global Opportunities Fund fell by an estimated 7%, the biggest monthly decline since it started in 2009, according to an investor letter seen by Bloomberg. That compares with an average loss of 5.9% for a group of long-short hedge funds tracked by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and a drop of about 1% for the S&P 500.
Steve Cohen’s Point72 Raises $1.5 billion After Supporting Melvin Capital During the GameStop Saga, Report Says (Business Insider)
Steve Cohen‘s hedge fund Point72 has raised $1.5 billion after suffering heavy losses in January and providing a lifeline to Melvin Capital, as short-sellers were hit by the GameStop saga, according to a report in Bloomberg and other outlets. Point72 Asset Management, which is run by New York Mets-owner Cohen, lost around 9% in January, Bloomberg reported.
Scaramucci on GameStop: ‘My Heart is with the People; My Mallet is with Steve Cohen’ (Fortune)
Anthony Scaramucci is torn—fiscally, emotionally. The founder and managing director of SkyBridge Capital, a New York City firm specializing in hedge fund investments, says the recent stock market drama centering on GameStop pit his sentiments against his economic interest. Last week, retail investors burst out of the online Reddit forum r/WallStreetBets to bid up shares of GameStop, the beleaguered video game retailer and shopping mall fixture. The unexpected, overwhelming interest caught hedge funds off guard, forcing ones who had sold the corporate laggard’s shares “short” into a perilous, bankruptcy-grazing “short squeeze.”
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Hedge Fund Manager Klabin Sets Up New Shop at 512 West 22nd Street (Commercial Observer)
Hedge fund manager Alexander Klabin, who co-founded the $6.9 billion firm Senator Investment Group but left last year, will set up his new shop at 512 West 22nd Street, Commercial Observer has learned. Klabin’s Ancient LP signed a five-year deal for 68,000 square feet on a portion of the fifth floor of Vornado Realty Trust’s 11-story building near the High Line, according to a source with knowledge of the deal. Asking rent was $120 per square foot.
Hedge-Fund Manager Ackman Raises Bet on Housing in Texas, Hawaii, Las Vegas (The Wall Street Journal)
Billionaire hedge-fund manager William Ackman is raising his bet that the migration of Americans to warmer, lower-tax cities is here to stay. His Pershing Square Capital Management LP recently increased its stake in Howard Hughes Corp. to nearly 25%. The Houston-based developer is ramping up construction of multifamily housing in Texas, Maryland, Hawaii and Las Vegas.
Multi-Strategy Hedge Fund Brummer Dips into Negative Territory, as Poor Short Alpha Drives January Equity Losses (Hedge Fund)
Stockholm-based hedge fund manager Brummer & Partners saw its flagship multi-strategy fund dip slightly into negative territory last month. The Brummer Multi-Strategy (BMS) vehicle slipped 0.8 per cent in its SEK class, and 0.9 per cent in the USD class, in January, while the twice-levered Brummer Multi-Strategy 2xL version of the fund lost 1.7 per cent in both SEK and USD tranches. Brummer said on Wednesday that equities and bond yields ticked upwards in early January, buoyed by the prospect of further stimulus from the new Biden administration – but appetite soon soured in the second half of the month as stimulus hopes faded, and governments wrestled with vaccine supplies and renewed Covid-19 restrictions.
Hedge Fund Behind AMC Rescue Loan Made Hundreds of Millions in Gains (The Wall Street Journal)
Mudrick Capital Management LP, the hedge fund that provided a much-needed lifeline to AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. in December, is sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars in gains following last week’s rally in the price of AMC’s shares. The New York-based firm made $200 million in profit, mostly from its holdings in AMC debt, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Apollo Takes in $13 Billion Even With Leon Black Under Microscope (Bloomberg)
Apollo Global Management Inc. plans to overhaul its board in the wake of the fallout from co-founder Leon Black’s business connections. The firm will appoint a lead independent director who will engage directly with management and the board, co-founder Marc Rowan said on an earnings conference call Wednesday. Apollo is also moving toward a two-thirds independent board and is looking to add diversity to bring in different views.
Wednesday 2/3 Insider Buying Report: ARAY, TRIN (Nasdaq.com)
At Accuray, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Monday, Joseph E. Whitters purchased 20,000 shares of ARAY, for a cost of $5.02 each, for a total investment of $100,400. Whitters was up about 7.6% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with ARAY trading as high as $5.40 at last check today. Accuray is trading up about 8.3% on the day Wednesday. Before this latest buy, Whitters made one other buy in the past twelve months, purchasing $173,135 shares at a cost of $3.46 a piece. And at Trinity Capital, there was insider buying on Friday, by CIO Kyle Steven Brown who purchased 6,800 shares for a cost of $14.00 each, for a trade totaling $95,200. Trinity Capital is trading up about 0.6% on the day Wednesday. So far Brown is in the green, up about 5.0% on their buy based on today’s trading high of $14.70.
Leslies Inc (LESL) CEO Michael R. Egeck Sold $2.5 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO of Leslies Inc, Michael R. Egeck, sold 90,915 shares of LESL on 02/01/2021 at an average price of $27.95 a share. The total sale was $2.5 million. Leslies Inc has a market cap of $5.48 billion; its shares were traded at around $29.370000 with a P/E ratio of 91.50 and P/S ratio of 8.07. GuruFocus has detected 1 severe warning sign with Leslies Inc.
Blackrock (NYSE: BLK) Executives are Making Moves with Their Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the Senior MD of Blackrock (BLK), Mark Mccombe, sold shares of BLK for $1.07M. Following Mark Mccombe’s last BLK Sell transaction on July 22, 2020, the stock climbed by 153.4%. In addition to Mark Mccombe, 2 other BLK executives reported Sell trades in the last month.
SEBI Bars Future Group’s CEO From Securities Market In Insider Trading Case (NDTV.com)
The country’s market regulator on Wednesday barred Future Group Chief Executive Kishore Biyani and his brother Anil from accessing the securities market for a year after investigating insider trading in shares of its retail firm Future Retail in 2017. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said the two brothers traded in shares of Future Retail through a group company on the basis of unpublished price sensitive information before a demerger of certain businesses of Future Retail that pushed its share price higher.
