Steve Cohen’s Amazin’, Maddening, Money-Losing Bid to Own New York (The New York Times)
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — Around early 2020, before the New York Mets were his, Steven A. Cohen received an unexpected request: Justin Verlander, then the Houston Astros’ ace, wanted to speak with him. The subject was not baseball. “He was wondering about hedge fund investments,” Cohen, a hedge fund billionaire, said in an interview, wandering between practice fields in a semi-tucked golf polo at the Mets’ spring facility. “I met him through a friend. ‘Sure, I’ll help you out. I’ll help you think about it.’ Why not?”
Billionaire Chris Rokos De-Risks Hedge Fund After Losses (Bloomberg)
Chris Rokos has reduced risk in his macro hedge fund in response to double-digit losses this month, which could become his second-worst since the start of the money pool. “We have de-risked following this month’s market price action, and P&L volatility has declined substantially as a result,” Rokos’s London-based investment firm told clients in a letter on Saturday, a copy of which was seen by Bloomberg.
Hedge Fund Made $30 Million in Days Thanks to a Well-Timed Bet on Credit Suisse’s Problems (Fortune)
It’s been a tumultuous few weeks for Swiss lender Credit Suisse—but one hedge fund has reportedly won big from the bank’s collapse and subsequent rescue. Credit Suisse was bought out by rival UBS earlier this month in a $3.25 billion deal backed by the Swiss government, with the bank agreeing to be taken over amid concerns about its viability as a business. The historic rescue deal came after a crisis in confidence led to more than $100 million of assets being pulled out of the bank in the final three months of 2022, following years of scandals, leadership problems, and legal issues.
Image by Sergei Tokmakov Terms.Law from Pixabay
Hedge Fund Marathon Asset Management Earns $30M Due To Timely Bet On Credit Suisse’s Senior Bonds (Benzinga)
Marathon Asset Management LP‘s gained around $30 million due to its opportune bet on Credit Suisse Group AG CS bonds. The hedge fund amassed around $150 million in bonds in Credit Suisse’s senior operating company at rock bottom prices just days before the Swiss bank offered to repurchase them at a high premium in a March 16 statement, Bloomberg reported citing a person with knowledge of the matter. The trade was an opportunistic move to capitalize on current bank disruption, the report added. Marathon had no prior exposure to Credit Suisse bonds before buying the positions last week.
The Eight Red Flags that Signal More Pain at Block (AFR.com)
An Australian hedge fund identified eight red flags at Block, the parent of Afterpay and the subject of an explosive attack by short-seller Hindenburg, which it argued should force investors to reconsider their bullish opinion on the stock. David Allen, manager of the Plato Global Alpha Fund, documented the dual role of Block’s chairman and chief executive, the presence of related party transactions, large growth in debtor days outstanding, increase in intangible assets, a high earnings manipulation score, the large divergence between statutory and adjusted earnings, increasing share count, and a skew toward insider selling over buying, as relevant issues.
Hedge Funds Flee Banks, Lending-Related Stocks (Reuters)
Global hedge funds cut their exposure to U.S. banking stocks to a near 10-year record low and fled lending-sensitive shares amid the banking turmoil that began earlier this month, Goldman Sachs said in its prime services weekly report. An indicator of how bearish or bullish hedge funds are positioned showed that investors became more pessimistic. Their long positions in banking divided by short positions ended the period March 17-23 at 1.28, near 10-year lows. In the beginning of 2023, it was at 1.52, Goldman said.
Apple And 2 Other Stocks Insiders Are Selling (Benzinga)
Apple: The Trade: Apple Inc. (AAPL) COO Jeffrey E Williams sold a total of 187,730 shares at an average price of $159.76. The insider received around $29.99 million from selling those shares. Micron Technology: The Trade: Micron Technology, Inc. (MU) EVP, Technology & Products Scott Deboer sold a total of 20,000 shares at an average price of $60.00.
Monday 3/27 Insider Buying Report: UNFI, AEL (Nasdaq.com)
At United Natural Foods, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Friday, Chief Executive Officer J. Alexander Douglas Jr. bought 45,168 shares of UNFI, for a cost of $22.22 each, for a total investment of $1.00M. So far Douglas Jr. is in the green, up about 10.2% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $24.48. United Natural Foods is trading up about 6.2% on the day Monday. Before this latest buy, Douglas Jr. made one other purchase in the past twelve months, buying $99,629 shares for a cost of $33.98 each. And on Wednesday, Director Alan David Matula bought $252,034 worth of American Equity Investment Life Holding, buying 7,100 shares at a cost of $35.50 a piece. American Equity Investment Life Holding is trading up about 2.2% on the day Monday. Matula was up about 3.2% on the buy at the high point of today’s trading session, with AEL trading as high as $36.64 at last check today.
AT1 Bond Wipeout: Not the Default Mode of Resolutions (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – As part of the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS, Swiss financial regulator FINMA instructed the credit-stricken bank to write down 16 billion Swiss francs of additional tier-1 (AT1) bonds. This puts the traditional, common-sense pecking order hierarchy in turmoil as equity shareholders are set to receive payouts from the takeover. This prompted AT1 investors to threaten legal action and other European financial authorities to distance themselves from the decision of the Swiss Financial Supervisory Authority.
Ripple’s ‘XRP Army’ Shows Why Crypto Boosters are Their Own Worst Enemy (Fortune)
On Friday, I used this column to discuss the history of Ripple, the San Francisco company that has built a business around XRP, the cryptocurrency with which it is closely tied. My account discussed Ripple’s struggles over the years to find a long-term business case but concluded on a positive note, citing the company’s claim that the past two years have been its best ever. On Saturday, I awoke to find my Twitter notifications had become a dumpster fire. The “XRP Army”—a group of thousands of online devotees—had discovered the column and taken issue with certain elements of it, informing me I was ignorant, would never become rich, and so on. I wasn’t surprised as this sort of stuff is par for the course in the world of crypto, and nor was it a big deal, especially as I long ago learned to make liberal use of Twitter’s “block” button. Still, it made me wonder what drives these people.
