Tiger Global Fuels India Startup Boom With Dealmaking Spree (Bloomberg)
Tiger Global Management has examined at least a dozen deals with Indian startups in recent months, according to multiple people with knowledge of the talks, illustrating global investors’ fierce interest in the country’s technology ecosystem. The ultra-secretive New York-based hedge fund has closed investments in at least half of these startups — nearly all of them in fintech or enterprise software segments. Hedge funds, venture capital firms, and the likes of South Africa-headquartered internet group Naspers Ltd. are also chasing India’s rapidly growing consumer internet and enterprise software firms.
Paul Singer’s Elliott Is on the Verge of a Big Win in PG&E Clash (The Wall Street Journal)
The California legislature is primed to deliver a preliminary victory to hedge-fund billionaire Paul Singer and other PG&E Corp. bondholders in their monthslong battle with the utility’s shareholders. Mr. Singer’s firm, Elliott Management Corp., is one of the biggest owners of bonds issued by the power company, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January while estimating that it could owe tens of billions of dollars to victims of the state’s deadly 2017 and 2018 wildfires.
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Citadel Sees 13.6% Gain in Strong First Half of 2019 (Bloomberg)
Ken Griffin‘s $30 billion hedge-fund firm Citadel outpaced its rivals with a 13.6% gain in the first six months of 2019. Bloomberg’s Sonali Basak reports on “Bloomberg Daybreak: Americas.” (Source: Bloomberg)
Least Shocking Hedge Fund Arrests Become Most Shocking Near-Exonerations (Deal Breaker)
Way back in the early days of the Platinum Partners scandal, a truly operatic adventure featuring alleged bribes paid via designer handbags, an FBI raid, $1.17 billion in missing money, an alleged Ponzi scheme, and a succession of judges alternately bewildered and enraged, the latter due to some alleged witness and prosecutor intimidation, we mused: Wouldn’t it be funny if the thing that got Mark Nordlicht & co. in the end was the scuzzy if allegedly legitimate energy investments by which it made its name? Well, wouldn’t you know…
Hedge Funds and Clients Working Towards Harmony (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – A new equilibrium in the alignment of interests between investors and hedge fund managers is on the horizon, according to a new study from the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA). “There is an increasing sense that fund fees and terms between hedge fund managers and their investors are moving towards a new normal,” the study said. AIMA identified six main takeaways from a survey with input from a group of 118 hedge fund managers, which collectively manages $440 billion in assets under management. According to the study, hedge fund managers and their investors “have agreed on a variety of new flexible fund fee structures” in recent years. The 2-and-20 fee structure, which was a norm in the hedge fund industry for decades, “is now consigned to the past.”
Tokenised hedge fund Protos available for trading on Openfinance ATS (Hedge Week)
Cryptocurrency hedge fund fund Protos is now available for trading to verified non-US investors and accredited US investors on the Openfinance Alternative Trading System (ATS), a US regulated platform for the secondary market trading of digital alternative assets. The Protos fund (PRTS) allows investors to participate in an evergreen fund by deploying capital across a broad range of digital tokens, cryptocurrency and other cryptocurrency investments. “By offering the first tokenised hedge fund to our investors, our platform is providing even more variety and opportunities for diversification,” says Juan Hernandez, founder & CEO of Openfinance. “We’re excited to be working with Protos Asset Management and providing our users access to an entirely new asset class.”
Hedge Funds Move Away from Unpopular ‘Two and 20’ Fee Model – Survey (Reuters)
LONDON (Reuters) – Hedge funds are ditching the traditional “two and twenty” fee structure that has hurt the sector’s public image and invited criticisms of poor value for money, a global survey of hedge fund managers showed on Wednesday. The ‘two’ refers to the 2% annual management fee charged by fund firms on the assets managed, while the ‘twenty’ refers to the 20% of profits made by the fund above a certain predefined benchmark.
Hedge Funds Roar Back in 2019 but Stock Pickers Suffer (Guru Focus)
After a mixed 2018, it looks as if hedge fund performance is roaring back this year. Preliminary data shows that hedge funds achieved one of the best performances since the financial crisis during the first half of 2019, as equity markets recovered from their year-end 2018 slump. According to data compiled by hedge fund data provider HFRI, hedge funds are up 7.6% in 2019, making the first half of the year one of the strongest on record for the industry. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index gained 2.6% in June, the most robust performance since January of this year. Some hedge fund managers have chalked up a much better performance than others. Ken Griffin’s $30 billion hedge fund Citadel is up 13.6% for the first six months of 2019. Bill Ackman (Trades, Portfolio) has achieved possibly the best performance and strongest comeback in the entire hedge fund industry.
SEC Charges Accountant and Friend in $6.2 Million Insider Trading Scheme (MENAFN.com)
(MENAFN – Newsfile Corp) SEC Charges Accountant and Friend in $6.2 Million Insider Trading Scheme. Washington, D.C.–(Newsfile Corp. – July 10, 2019) – The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed insider trading charges against an accountant and her friend, whom she illegally tipped with confidential information in advance of her company’s quarterly performance announcements in exchange for all-expense paid travel and other expensive gifts.The alleged insider trading scheme generated profits of more than $6.2 million and was uncovered by the SEC through analysis and technology that it uses to detect suspicious trading activity.
Congress Must Do More to Address Conflicts of Interest After Insider Trading Scandal (CommonDreams.com)
WASHINGTON – Note: In January 2017, Public Citizen filed a complaint against U.S. Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.) alleging congressional insider trading. The 116th Congress amended its ethics rules to prohibit members from sitting on the boards of public corporations and directed the U.S. House Ethics Committee to address other potential conflicts of interest related to outside service or positions. Today, Public Citizen submitted recommendations to the committee calling for further reforms. In the wake of Collins’ insider trading scandal, the nation was stunned to discover that congressional ethics rules allowed a lawmaker to sit on the board of directors of a corporation, buy and sell stock of that company and promote legislation that could benefit the bottom line of the company and its stock holders.
Thursday 7/11 Insider Buying Report: MVC, DS (Nasdaq.com)
On Monday, MVC Capital’s Chairman, Michael T. Tokarz, made a $103,693 buy of MVC, purchasing 11,068 shares at a cost of $9.37 a piece. Tokarz was up about 1.5% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with MVC trading as high as $9.51 in trading on Thursday. MVC Capital is trading up about 0.3% on the day Thursday. Before this latest buy, Tokarz made one other purchase in the past twelve months, buying $19,320 shares at a cost of $9.20 each. And also on Monday, Director Virgis Colbert bought $24,350 worth of Drive Shack, buying 5,000 shares at a cost of $4.87 each.
Government Wants SEBI To Go Deeper Into IndiGo Promoter Dispute (Bloomberg)
The government wants the Securities and Exchange Board of India to go deeper into the IndiGo promoter dispute and probe the role of all board members and every entity associated with Rakesh Gangwal and Rahul Bhatia, the co-promoters of InterGlobe Aviation Ltd. The SEBI is free to action for any and all wrongdoing detected, officials said Thursday. InterGlobe Aviation is the parent of the country’s largest airline IndiGo. There are indications of violations in corporate governance, fair market trade and insider trading rules, and SEBI needs to probe role of each and every entity associated with all board members and promoter-linked entities, according to the officials.
The President of QAD Inc (NASDAQ: QADA) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Today, the President of QAD Inc (QADA), Pamela Lopker, sold shares of QADA for $222.9K. Following Pamela Lopker’s last QADA Sell transaction on January 20, 2015, the stock climbed by 24.9%. In addition to Pamela Lopker, one other QADA executive reported Sell trades in the last month. QADA’s market cap is $969.2M and the company has a P/E ratio of 804.18. Currently, QAD Inc has an average volume of 59.61K.
