Tom Steyer Rolls Out a Risky New Argument: His Hedge Fund Past Makes Him the Democrat to Beat Trump (The Los Angeles Times)
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Billionaire Tom Steyer is trying to turn his biggest weaknesses into strengths in the Democratic presidential contest, saying his past experience managing a hedge fund makes him the strongest candidate to take on President Trump. “If Democrats don’t nominate someone who can go toe-to-toe with him on the economy, Donald Trump will win in 2020,” Steyer told a modest crowd gathered at a co-working space here, adding that none of the front-runners in the race had experience building a business or creating wealth.
Chewy’s Recent Surge Boosts Hedge Fund Backers (Institutional Investor)
Viking joins other big-name hedge funds among the largest shareholders of Chewy, whose stock has been surging this month – to David Einhorn’s chagrin. Viking Global Investors is the latest among the so-called smart money crowd to take a sizable stake in Chewy, the e-commerce company devoted to everything pets. Viking, headed by Tiger Cub O. Andreas Halvorsen, disclosed in a regulatory filing that as of December 2 it owned 3.65 million shares of Chewy, or 6.8 percent of the total outstanding. The filing was made in a 13G form, meaning it is a passive investment.
Warren Buffett Thinks Index Funds are the Best Way for Everyday Investors to Grow Their Money – Here’s How You Can Start (Business Insider)
Warren Buffett is one of the most iconic and successful investors of our time. Luckily, he’s an open book when it comes to his sharing his strategy and advice. Buffett is a master of value investing wherein patience, discipline, and risk aversion are the essential ingredients for success. But he acknowledges that individual stock picking is not for everybody. In fact, most average, long-term investors would benefit from a much simpler strategy, he says: investing in low-cost index funds. “My regular recommendation has been a low-cost S&P 500 index fund,” Buffett wrote in his 2016 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder letter.
Phongphan/Shutterstock.com
Going Global With Fixed Income Arbitrage (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – For the past five years, Michael Petry, Head of Hedge Funds at Danske Bank Asset Management, has started each year with a rather cautious outlook that it will not be easy to generate returns, and that market conditions have probably made it more difficult. Returns in 2018 were well below the long-term average, but have bounced back in 2019. Petry’s teams keep an open mind about spontaneously adapting to new opportunities and market conditions.
Hot Launches, Macro Players, and New Blood: Here are the 8 Hedge Funds to Watch in 2020 (Business Insider)
The hedge funds to watch in 2020 are a mix of big names, newcomers looking to make a splash, and a long-time industry player giving it another shot. Big-name macro managers like Brevan Howard will be in the spotlight thanks to the tricky geopolitical puzzle posed by 2020 and the closure of long-time macro player Louis Bacon‘s Moore Capital. Newcomers include former Viking chief investment officer Ben Jacobs and his planned fund Anomaly Capital, as well as former Cantor Fitzgerald boss Shawn Matthews’ Hondius Capital.
Hedge Fund Boom Persuades Bradesco to Create a Prime Brokerage (Bloomberg Law)
Banco Bradesco SA, Brazil’s second-biggest bank by market value, is starting a prime brokerage to serve the nation’s booming hedge fund industry. Services include securities lending, leveraged trade executions and cash management, according to Marcelo Noronha, a vice president responsible for wholesale banking at the Osasco-based company. The operation also provides custody services and daily account statements, Noronha said. “We unified all the services to investment funds into one single unit, including traditional banking services, in order to have a better relationship with them,” Noronha said in an interview.
LogMeIn To Go Private in $4.3 Billion Deal (Reuters)
(Reuters) – LogMeIn Inc (LOGM.O) said it will be taken private in a $4.3-billion deal by buyout firm Francisco Partners and the private equity arm of activist hedge fund Elliott Management, more than a decade after the remote desktop tool provider went public. LogMeIn shareholders will get $86.05 per share in cash, the company said on Tuesday, representing a premium of more than 25% to its closing price on Sept. 18, the last trading day before a media report on the sale.
Hedge Funds Up 0.90 per cent in November, Says Eurekahedge (Hedge Week)
The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index was up 0.90 per cent in November, supported by the market’s optimism towards the progress of the US-China trade talks, according to the December 2019 Eurekahedge Report. The underlying equity market as represented by the MSCI ACWI (Local) gained 2.76 per cent over the same period. US equity markets recorded new all-time highs during the month, as a result of the strong corporate earnings combined with the positive geopolitical development. European equities also pushed higher as Germany narrowly avoided recession, defying market expectations. The CAC40 and DAX gained 3.06 per cent and 2.87 per cent over the month. Over in Asia, the enactment of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act was seen as a possible headwind against the progress of the ongoing US-China trade negotiations, weighing on the region’s risk outlook.
Miami Pension Files Lawsuit Against Carl Icahn over Insider Trading Allegations (AI-CIO.com)
The Miami Firefighter Relief and Pension Fund (MFRPF) has filed a lawsuit against Carl Icahn and his affiliated investment vehicles, alleging they breached their fiduciary duty of loyalty by purchasing $1.2 billion of HP Inc. common stock with knowledge that Xerox was intending to buy the stock at a premium price soon afterwards, subsequently generating a substantial profit for Icahn. The pension said that Icahn “effectively controls Xerox based upon being its largest single shareholder,” and has been active in his responsibilities, including replacing at least five out of the seven board members, selling subsidiary organizations, replacing the company CEO, and threatening proxy contests.
With Bipartisan Support, House Passes Explicit Ban on Insider Trading (Lexology)
The U.S. House of Representatives recently approved a bill that aims to create the first federal statute explicitly banning insider trading. By a 410-13 margin, the House voted to amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to prohibit financial trades based on confidential information and related communications by those who possess material, nonpublic information. The Insider Trading Prohibition Act (the “Bill”) 1 now moves The Insider Trading Prohibition Actto the U.S. Senate. Current State of Insider Trading: Because there is no federal law that explicitly defines or bans insider trading, individuals accused of insider trading are often charged with violating other explicit anti-fraud statutes, such as bank fraud or wire fraud.
Scynexis Inc (SCYX) CEO Marco Taglietti Bought $150,000 of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO of Scynexis Inc., Marco Taglietti, bought 166,667 shares of SCYX on 12/12/2019 at an average price of $0.9 a share. The total cost of this purchase was $150,000. SCYNEXIS Inc is a pharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel anti-infectives to address unmet therapeutic needs.
What Did This CEO Just Do with Personal Shares of Salesforce (NYSE: CRM)? (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the co-CEO of Salesforce (CRM), Keith Block, sold shares of CRM for $4.2M. Following Keith Block’s last CRM Sell transaction on November 27, 2017, the stock climbed by 55.4%. In addition to Keith Block, 5 other CRM executives reported Sell trades in the last month.
SEBI Notice to PC Jeweller MD Over ”Insider Trading” (OutlookIndia.com)
Mumbai, Dec 17 (IANS) Market regulator SEBI on Tuesday served notice to PC Jeweller MD Balram Garg asking him why he should not be barred from the securities market over charges of insider trading. SEBI also ordered impounding of alleged illegal gains of over Rs 8 crore made by two promoters and related entities of the jewellery firm. “In light of the alleged violations by Balram Garg, this order shall be treated as a notice calling upon him to show cause as to why direction shall not be passed against him to restrain him from accessing the securities market and prohibiting him from buying, selling or otherwise dealing in securities for an appropriate period,” the SEBI order said.
