A Utilities-Focused Hedge Fund that Managed $319 million is Shutting Down, with Its Staff Moving to Point72 (Business Insider)
Blackstart Capital, which listed $319 million under management on a recent disclosure form, has terminated its registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund focused on North American utilities, power and related infrastructure sectors. Jamie Waters, a partner and portfolio manager there, said on his LinkedIn profile that he and some number of others moved to Point72 earlier this month, and Point72 confirmed the move to Business Insider.
Warren Buffett Wants more Small-Business Aid, Less Income Inequality, and a Robust Economic Recovery. He’ll be Happy to Have Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary (Business Insider)
Warren Buffett may be celebrating President-elect Joe Biden’s plan to appoint Janet Yellen as treasury secretary. The famed investor and Berkshire Hathaway CEO praised Yellen soon after she took over as Federal Reserve chair in 2014. Buffett said at Berkshire’s annual shareholder meeting that year that Yellen’s predecessor, Ben Bernanke, did a “masterful job” of recognizing the severity of the financial crisis and taking action to address it. “From everything I’ve seen about Janet Yellen, I feel the same way about her,” he added.
Credit Suisse Flags $450 million Impairment on York Capital Management Stake (Reuter)
ZURICH (Reuters) – Credit Suisse expects to take a roughly $450 million impairment on alternative investment firm York Capital Management’s retreat from its core hedge funds business, the Swiss bank said. The Wall Street Journal on Monday reported the New York-based firm had informed employees and investors about plans to leave its original line of business, wind down its European hedge funds business and convert its U.S. hedge fund into one primarily managing internal money.
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How The EU Learned To Stopped Worrying And Love Hedge Funds (Deal Breaker)
With the departure of the U.K. and its influential (at one time, anyway) financial services industry from the European Union, it seemed at last the bloc would finally get to do what it always wanted to do vis-à-vis hedge funds, which is to say regulate them out of existence, or at least into friendly mutual-fund-type things. As it turns out, however, the wily French and practical Germans have other, more pragmatic plans which may prove even worse for the liberated but irrelevant island nation: Open arms and a firm nudge across the Channel.
Hedge-Fund Copycats Rally as Academics Defend Embattled Strategy (Bloomberg)
Investing products designed to bring hedge-fund strategies to the masses are on course for one of their best months in more than a decade, as the latest research argues the oft-maligned trades have robust foundations. So-called liquid alternatives mimic the fast money through short selling, leverage and derivatives in order to capture popular sources of market returns known as risk premia. Yet they have underperformed both hedge funds and 60/40 portfolios over the past decade — and look set to do so again this year.
Breakingviews – Elliott’s Swiss Cookie Raid Merits Activist Slap (Reuters)
LONDON (Reuters Breakingviews) – Elliott Advisors is trying to raid the cookie jar. The U.S. hedge fund, led by billionaire Paul Singer, is planning a 793 million Swiss franc (733 million euros) bid for debt-laden baker Aryzta, maker of Otis Spunkmeyer biscuits. Yet with the pandemic easing, the Swiss group’s shareholders, which also include some activists, have good reason to hold out. Aryzta has all the criteria of a value stock. The baker, which supplies sesame-seed buns to McDonald’s, was once worth over $9 billion after the merger of IAWS and Hiestand in 2008.
Crypto Fund Seals Coinify Partnership (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Cryptocurrency hedge fund ARK36, managed by an all-Danish team, has announced a partnership with virtual currency platform Coinify to ensure the best execution of orders across multiple trading venues. The Danish founders Ulrik Lykke and Mikkel Mөrch, joined by Jacob Skaaning and Marck Bertelsen, launched the crypto-focused hedge fund in October to deliver risk-adjusted exposure to crypto-assets for professional investors. According to an announcement, Denmark-headquartered Coinify will provide its institutional trading services to ARK36.
Third Quarter End Saw Hedge Fund Investors Retreat, but Industry Assets Still Up, Says BarclayHedge (Hedge Week)
Three months of hedge fund inflows came to an abrupt halt at the end of the third quarter, as investors withdrew USD2.8 billion in September amid a surge in coronavirus cases and fears of renewed economic disruption, new data from BarclayHedge shows. Despite September’s outflows – which represent 0.1 per cent of industry assets – as well as a trading loss of USD15.6 billion, global hedge fund assets grew to USD3.38 trillion at the end of September, up from USD3.36 trillion the previous month.
Tuesday 11/24 Insider Buying Report: OLMA, COTY (Nasdaq.com)
On Monday, Olema Pharmaceuticals’ Director, G. Walmsley Graham, made a $22.04M buy of OLMA, purchasing 1,160,000 shares at a cost of $19.00 each. Graham was up about 189.2% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with OLMA trading as high as $54.94 at last check today. Olema Pharmaceuticals is trading up about 1.4% on the day Tuesday. This buy marks the first one filed by Graham in the past twelve months. And on Friday, Director Johannes P. Huth bought $6.2M worth of Coty, buying 1,000,000 shares at a cost of $6.20 each. This purchase marks the first one filed by Huth in the past twelve months. Coty is trading up about 5.4% on the day Tuesday. So far Huth is in the green, up about 22.4% on their buy based on today’s trading high of $7.59.
Qualys Inc (QLYS) Chairman & CEO Philippe F Courtot Sold $10.5 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
Chairman & CEO of Qualys Inc, Philippe F Courtot, sold 116,505 shares of QLYS on 11/20/2020 at an average price of $89.88 a share. The total sale was $10.5 million. Qualys Inc provides cloud security and compliance solutions to organizations identifying security risks to their IT infrastructures, to protect their IT systems from cyber-attacks and achieve compliance with internal policies and external regulations.
An Insider at Cresco Labs (Other OTC: CRLBF) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Today, an Insider at Cresco Labs (CRLBF), Joseph Stevens Caltabiano, sold shares of CRLBF for $373.3K. Based on Cresco Labs’ latest earnings report for the quarter ending June 30, the company posted quarterly revenue of $94.26 million and GAAP net loss of -$18,897,000.
The EC of The Estée Lauder Companies (NYSE: EL) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the EC of The Estée Lauder Companies (EL), William Lauder, sold shares of EL for $1.93M. Following William Lauder’s last EL Sell transaction on February 27, 2019, the stock climbed by 85.4%. In addition to William Lauder, 10 other EL executives reported Sell trades in the last month. The company has a one-year high of $259.78 and a one-year low of $137.01. The Company has a Price to Book ratio of 129.25. EL’s market cap is $86.99 billion and the company has a P/E ratio of 144.90.
Dell Technologies Inc (DELL) COO & Vice Chairman Jeffrey W Clarke Sold $13.7 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
COO & Vice Chairman of Dell Technologies Inc, Jeffrey W Clarke, sold 200,000 shares of DELL on 11/20/2020 at an average price of $68.26 a share. The total sale was $13.7 million. Dell Technologies Inc has a market cap of $51.81 billion; its shares were traded at around $69.38 with a P/E ratio of 25.14 and P/S ratio of 0.57.
