Breakingviews – TCI Plays Outrider to Mark Carney’s Climate Drive (Reuters)
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) – Chris Hohn made his name by assaulting the entrenched boards of European companies. Now the boss of activist hedge fund TCI is deploying those skills for a higher purpose. He’s planning to vote against directors of companies that don’t disclose how their balance sheets would be hit by climate change, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. Doing so would help outgoing Bank of England Governor Mark Carney’s push for greater transparency about the financial risks of global warming. Yet for Hohn there’s a fine line between being an outrider or a guinea pig.
Billionaire Cohen Cuts His Metro Bank Stake for Third Time (Bloomberg)
The private investment vehicle of billionaire hedge fund manager Steven Cohen has cut its stake in Metro Bank Plc for the third time in less than a week. Cohen Private Ventures reduced its holding in Metro from 7.7% to 6.5% last week, according to a U.K. regulatory filing. The Connecticut-based tycoon’s vehicle remains the biggest investor in Metro, although its holding has dwindled from almost 10%.
Turns Out Hedge Fund Bribery Does Have Victims (Deal Breaker)
For more than three years, the hedge fund formerly known as Och-Ziff Capital Management has been trying to put its unfortunate “go to Africa and bribe every public official you happen to meet” scandal in the past. It managed to tamp down on the redemption requests and turn around what had been some pretty appalling performance in spite of all the bribery. It put founder Dan Och in the rearview mirror both literally and figuratively. Sure, people keep getting sent to jail over the whole affair, but those people are former Och-Ziffers, and there’s not even an Och-Ziff anymore for them to have formerly been a part of. CEO Rob Shafir was so confident he went on television announcing that Och-Ziff, er, Sculptor Capital Management had indeed put all of the unpleasantness behind it, what with the $400 million settlement and quiet and successful lobbying of the SEC to let it raise money like any normal, non-bribey hedge fund.
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For 30 years, Renaissance Technologies Achieved 66% Annualized Returns. Here’s How a Group of Academics with No Trading Experience Became the Most Successful Hedge Fund in History (Business Insider)
As an investor, the idea of a fund generating 66% annualized returns (before fees) over a 30-year period seems nothing short of preposterous. After all, conventional wisdom says that markets are efficient, competition is steep, and opportunities for outsize gains present themselves only once in a blue moon. But that’s exactly what Renaissance Technologies – the quantitative hedge fund founded by math whiz Jim Simons – has accomplished. What’s arguably even more impressive is that Simons and his subordinates knew almost nothing about business when they got into it. It simply didn’t matter.
Greenlight Posts Another Monthly Loss (Institutional Investor)
The hedge fund headed by David Einhorn has suffered sharp declines so far this quarter. Greenlight Capital had a rough November in what was otherwise the best month for the stock market since June.The value-driven hedge fund headed by David Einhorn dropped 1.8 percent for the month after losing 6 percent in October. It is now up 14.1 percent for the year after surging 24…
Man Group Nordic Institutional Investor Breakfast (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – On November 26, Man Group hosted its annual Nordic Institutional Investor Breakfast in Stockholm. Each year, Man Group brings a mix of investment professionals to share their most recent views, research, and projects with an invitation only-group of institutional investors and fellow professionals from across the Nordic financial industry. HedgeNordic had the pleasure to attend the event and listen to Man Group’s experts in the field of global macro, quantitative research and multi-asset investing.
Virtus Capital President Says Markets Would Sell Off Big If a ‘Socialist’ is Elected President in 2020 (CNBC)
Steven Gidumal, managing partner of Virtus Capital, said Monday that if Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren or Pete Buttigieg is elected president, the market would sell off between 30% to 50%. “If a Socialist is Elected, the Market will sell off BIG,” Gidumal said in a slide presentation. “Pick a Socialist – Bernie, Liz, Pete. etc. and the Market would sell off.” Warren and Buttigieg have both said they are not socialists. Speaking at the annual Distressed Investing Conference in Midtown Manhattan, Gidumal also said that he thinks markets are signaling a re-election of President Donald Trump and thinks the president making public comments on the Federal Reserve is the right thing to do.
