Hedge Fund and Insider Trading News: Steve Cohen, Canyon Capital, U.S. Xpress Enterprises (USX), Blue Apron Holdings Inc (APRN), Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. (MLNX), and More

Steven Cohen’s Venture Capital Firm Gets Into Crypto With New Partner (Fortune.com)
Hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen is joining the Bitcoin party. Cohen Private Ventures, which was launched by Cohen’s family office in 2016, has invested Autonomous Partners, a new hedge fund that is acquiring both cryptocurrencies and equity in blockchain-related companies. Autonomous Partners, led by early cryptocurrency believer and venture capitalist Arianna Simpson, launched in December and includes funding in the low eight digits from investors such as Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Union Square Ventures, and Craft Ventures.

Canyon Partners Closes a $450 Million Real Estate Debt Fund (Bloomberg)
Canyon Partners LLC has closed a real estate debt fund with more than $450 million in commitments, the Los Angeles-based hedge fund announced Thursday. The property fund will focus on originating senior and subordinate debt in markets across the U.S., Canyon said in a statement. “In today’s market, we are seeing opportunities to lend on high-quality real estate projects at particularly favorable risk/reward profiles,” Josh Friedman, co-founder of Canyon, said.

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Visium and the Rogue Employees Behind the Hedge Fund’s Fall (AnalystofFinance.com)
In early May 2018, the SEC settled with Visium Asset Management in a non-admit non-deny order with findings that Sanjay Valvani, Christopher Plaford, and Stefan Lumiere broke federal regulations. While this has been widely reported on, less well-known are dynamics surrounding these individuals. Using old presentations, interviews with former Visium staffers, and reported news, we look at some of the personalities and activities of people close to the teams and individuals involved.

Seth Klarman Set to Win No Matter Who Prevails in Sky Fight (Bloomberg)
No matter who prevails in the fight to control Sky Plc, hedge fund legend Seth Klarman is set to come out a winner. Klarman’s Baupost Group is the second-largest shareholder in Britain’s top pay-TV provider, with a stake worth 1.2 billion pounds ($1.6 billion), according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The stock, up more than 50 percent this year, rose again Thursday as Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc. and Comcast Corp. engage in a full-blown bidding war for the media firm.