Editor’s Note: Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD), Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP)
Astenbeck up 3 pct in August, limiting downside risk in oil (Reuters)
Prominent oil trader Andy Hall told investors in his Astenbeck hedge fund he is working to limit downside risks from the current oil rally as the $4.5 billion fund rose modestly in August, underperforming gains in benchmark crude prices. Westport, Connecticut-based Astenbeck posted a near 3 percent gain last month, it said in a letter sent to investors earlier this week and seen by Reuters on Thursday. Although Astenbeck is invested in other commodities such as platinum, palladium and corn, returns at the oil-focused fund have largely mirrored monthly gains and losses in benchmark crude since it began operating in 2008.
Why Are Hedge Fund Traders Flocking To AMD? (Seeking Alpha)
According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), 17 hedge funds have long positions in Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD) at the end of the second quarter, a 21% increase quarter-on-quarter. First Eagle Investment Management has the highest amount of shares among them. The total value of its shares is $54.3 million. Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group made investments worth $52.7 million during the quarter. Investors cannot imitate every hedge trader purchase, and should not do so blindly. Besides, some of the filings do not reflect current buying or selling activities. But purchases around Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE:AMD) prove to ascertain that there could be bullish movements in the next few months.
Small-Cap-Oriented Hedge Fund Raises Its Stake in Standard Motor Products, Inc. (SMP) (Insider Monkey)
Chuck Royce’s hedge fund, Royce & Associates, recently disclosed in a 13G filing ownership of about 2.4 million shares of Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE:SMP). At the current price of the company’s stock the value of the Royce & Associates’ stake in Standard Motor Products amounts to about $74.1 million. Chuck Royce is bullish on Standard Motor Products, with the recent 13F filings showing that the hedge fund has been increasing its stake in the company.
HotelTonight Raises A $45 Million Round Led By A Hedge Fund To Help You Book Cheap, Last-Minute Rooms (Business Insider)
Sam Shank’s on-demand booking app, HotelTonight, has raised a $45 million Series D round, bringing its total fundraise to $80.5 million. HotelTonight works with 3,000 hotels in 120 cities to help fill open rooms at the last minute. It offers the rooms at a heavy discount to 6.5 million people who have downloaded the app. The lead investor is Coatue Management, a hedge fund that has a lot of experience with the online travel sector. It was a large shareholder in Expedia and Priceline, for example, and it has a robust research team that will help Shank dig up industry insights. GGV Capital, Battery Ventures, Accel Partners, U.S. Venture Partners and First Round Capital also invested.
Petra Plans Peer-To-Peer Fund (FINalternatives)
Hedge fund Petra Partners is gearing up for the launch of a peer-to-peer lending hedge fund. The new credit-focused fund will debut on Oct. 1, HedgeCo.net reports. The new fund aims to offer low volatility and low standard deviation, producing annual returns of 9% to 12%. “P2P lending has been around for only for a few years (the first P2P business, Zopa, was founded in the U.K. in 2005 and, since then, many others have entered the space) but, in that time, platforms in the U.S. and Europe have originated more than $3 billion in P2P loans,” Joshua Rand, Petra’s chief operating officer, said.
LightSquared, the Battle among Hedge Funds (Bloomberg)
Short-sell hedge funds count cost as M&A picks up (Reuters)
Hedge funds circling the stock of vulnerable companies got an expensive wake-up call this week with Nokia Corporation (ADR) (NYSE:NOK)’s dramatic exit from commercial purgatory, prompting many to reassess their targets. Funds that had borrowed Nokia stock to sell on, in a ‘short’ bet it would fall further, have suffered a potential loss of up to $843 million, Reuters calculations showed, as it jumped up to 49 percent after the once world-beating Finnish tech firm agreed to sell its handset unit to Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) for $7.2 billion.
How To Invest Like Bill Ackman (iStockAnalyst)
In some ways, Bill Ackman invests like he’s riding a bicycle. In the summer of 2012, Ackman joined fellow hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb and half-dozen other cyclists on a very long bike ride. Although Ackman, a fierce competitor, was admittedly out of shape for such a ride, he pulled out to lead the pack early, only to eventually fall well behind the others. One participant noted, “I’ve never had an experience where someone has gone from being so aggressive on a bike to being so hopelessly unable to even turn the pedals… (Ackman’s) mind wrote a check that his body couldn’t cash.”
Two Indicted in $275 Million Investment Fraud Scheme Involving the Sale of Medical Accounts Receivable to Hedge Funds and Other Investors (Federal Bureau of Investigation)
A federal grand jury has indicted Richard Shusterman, age 50, of Highland Beach, Florida, and Jonathan E. Rosenberg, age 44, of West Orange, New Jersey, on charges of conspiracy and wire fraud, in connection with a scheme to defraud equity investors and asset-based lenders in medical accounts receivable of more than $275 million. The indictment was returned on September 4, 2013, and unsealed today upon the arrest of the defendants.
AIMA publishes enhanced statement of principles (HedgeWeek)
The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), the global hedge fund industry association, has published an enhanced statement of policy principles. The principles are set out in a new AIMA paper, Regulating Capital Markets: AIMA’s Policy Principles. The paper builds on the AIMA Policy Platform, the landmark 2009 document in which AIMA offered its support for improved transparency, unified global standards, manager authorisation and supervision, aggregated short position disclosure to regulators and new policies to reduce settlement failure.
