Hedge Fund News: James Dinan, Ray Dalio, Citadel

A Billionaire Retrenches In A Tough Year For Hedge Funds (The Wall Street Journal)
Hedge-fund manager Jamie Dinan is ending 2016 the way he started it: eating humble pie. The main fund at his York Capital Management, which fell 14% last year, lost another 1% this year through early December. That performance in back-to-back years has pushed Mr. Dinan to crisscross the globe in his most intense client interactions in years, people familiar with the matter say. He took his private jet to Seoul in January to meet with South Korea’s sovereign-wealth fund. In March and April, he met with investors in Switzerland, Sweden and Norway. More recently, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and large investors throughout the U.S. have landed on his itinerary.

Trump Administration ‘Hell-Bent’ On Making Big Changes, Dalio Says (Bloombeg)
Economic changes under the Donald Trump administration may be more significant than shifts from “the socialists to the capitalists” in the U.K., U.S. and Germany from 1979 to 1982, according to Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio. Comparing Trump to Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan and Helmut Kohl, Dalio said the incoming administration may have a much bigger impact on the U.S. economy than can be measured by tax changes and fiscal spending. The Trump era could “ignite animal spirits” and attract productive capital, the billionaire fund manager wrote in a LinkedIn post on Monday. “By and large, deal-maker businessmen will be running the government,” said Dalio, whose Westport, Connecticut-based firm is the hedge fund industry’s largest money manager.

Citadel’s Adam Cooper To Retire In 2017, Fagan Promoted (Reuters)
Investment firm Citadel LLC said on Tuesday that its chief legal officer, Adam Cooper, plans to retire in 2017 and that Shawn Fagan has been promoted to general counsel for its hedge fund business. Cooper, 54, worked at Citadel for 18 years and plans to spend more time on philanthropic pursuits and with his family after he leaves the firm at the end of February 2017, Zia Ahmed, a spokesman for the firm said. Citadel, which invests $26 billion, split Cooper’s job in two. It promoted Fagan, who had been senior deputy general counsel, to his new position effective immediately. It is planning to hire a general counsel for Citadel Securities in early 2017, Ahmed said. Fagan joined Citadel in 2005 after working for a law firm and serving as a clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist of the U.S. Supreme Court. Cooper has been working closely with Citadel‘s founder, Ken Griffin, for nearly two decades.