How Warren Buffett’s Uphill Battle Against the S&P 500 is Changing (CNBC)
Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway made some big purchases in 2020, but the biggest Buffett buy speaks to the big challenge the company will continue to face: there was nothing it could find at a better price than its own shares. Berkshire bought back more than $18 billion in its own shares last year, through October, almost twice as much as Buffett spent on his next biggest acquisition, the $10 billion natural gas assets transaction with Dominion Energy, which including the debt acquired, was the largest acquisition since 2016. Taken at his word – which he has earned — that he won’t do a share repurchase just to prop up the stock, the big buyback was a signal from Buffett that he thinks the stock is undervalued.
Hedge Fund Founder in Dubai Won’t Fight Extradition in Danish Tax Case (Bloomberg)
Sanjay Shah, a hedge-fund manager charged by Danish prosecutors in a $1.6 billion tax-fraud probe, won’t fight extradition from his home in Dubai. The U.K. citizen “would rather go to Denmark than be a fugitive,” according to his spokesman, Jack Irvine. “He would go at the beginning of any trial they have.”
$138 Billion Megafund AQR Shares a Step-by-Step Guide for Investors Who Want to Reduce their Portfolios’ Carbon Footprints – and Explains Why This Move could Propel Returns in the Long Run (Business Insider)
Investors and money managers can use their dollars to reduce carbon emissions, but they need to consider solutions outside of avoiding big polluters’ stocks, according to AQR. Chris Palazzolo, Lukasz Pomorski, and Alice Zhao write that this approach can improve returns and environmental impact as well. AQR manages $138 billion in assets, with more than $20 billion dedicated to environmentally conscious investing.
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D.E. Shaw’s Largest Hedge Fund Gains Nearly 20 pct in 2020 (Reuters)
BOSTON, Jan 7 (Reuters) – D.E. Shaw’s largest hedge fund gained 19.4% after fees last year, almost doubling its returns from the previous year during a period of wild and unexpected business conditions. Gains were fueled mainly by systematic and discretionary strategies, said a person familiar with the returns but not authorized to discuss them publicly. The broader stock market index S&P 500 gained 16% last year.
Ovata, Hedge Fund Set Up by former BlueCrest Traders, Posts Best-Ever Annual Returns (Financial News)
Ovata Capital, the multi-strategy hedge fund set up by former BlueCrest traders, posted its best-ever annual performance since its inception in 2017. The firm returned over 18% net of fees with all business units contributing to the fund’s gains, partner Rodrigo Rodriguez told Financial News in an interview. Rodrigo spent more than six years as an event-driven portfolio manager at BlueCrest. In 2019, Ovata’s returns were flat as the business underwent a period of consolidation following large inflows. Ovata is focussed on five strategies: global event, long/short, relative value, index arbitrage and ECM and is therefore…
