Editor’s Note: Related Tickers: Visa Inc (NYSE:V), Halcon Resources Corp (NYSE:HK)
Halcon Resources Corp (HK): Billionaire Ken Griffin’s Citadel Bought More (Insider Monkey)
Hedge fund to pay $21.5 million to settle SEC charges (Futures Magazine)
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Greenwich, Conn.-based hedge fund advisory firm Level Global Investors LP has agreed to pay more than $21.5 million to settle charges that its co-founder, who also served as a portfolio manager, and its analyst engaged in repeated insider trading in the securities of Dell Inc. and Nvidia Corp. In January 2012, the SEC filed insider trading charges against Level Global, the firm’s co-founder Anthony Chiasson, a former analyst Spyridon “Sam” Adondakis, and six other defendants, including five investment professionals and the hedge fund advisory firm Diamondback Capital Management.
Ramius, Conning partner on custom hedge fund replication (Pensions & Investments)
Conning and Ramius Alternative Solutions have entered into a strategic alliance to develop customized alternative investment strategies for insurance companies. The firms will customize strategies traditionally used by hedge funds to enhance the risk-adjusted returns of insurance portfolios. Hedge funds have traditionally posed a number of problems for insurance companies such as lack of transparency, high capital charges, unattractive liquidity and high fees, said Woody Bradford, president and CEO of Conning, an investment manager for insurance companies.
Hong Kong-based Richland to shut hedge funds in surprise move (Reuters)
Hong Kong-based Richland Capital Management Ltd is shutting down its hedge funds despite outperforming peers, four sources said, an unexpected move for a successful operator in an Asian industry which is struggling to raise assets. Richland is one of Asia’s best-known hedge funds. It manages $100 million between two funds and advises on an additional $150 million for wealthy clients, according to a fund information document obtained by Reuters.
Paulson Reinsurer Lags Peers in Sales in First Year (Bloomberg)
Billionaire John Paulson’s Bermuda venture, which positions its owners to avoid taxes on hedge fund earnings by routing money through a reinsurer, sold about 3 percent as much coverage as competitors in its first year. Pacre Ltd., set up by top executives at Paulson’s New York hedge fund firm, collected about $11 million of premiums in the year ended March 31, or 2.3 percent of shareholders’ equity, according to results released last week. The average ratio for 13 publicly traded Bermuda reinsurers is about 68 percent. Hedge fund insurers are gaining in popularity…
…with three Bermuda ventures last year investing a combined sum of about $1.7 billion with the U.S. managers who set them up, Bloomberg News reported this year.
Chris Hansen’s hedge fund posts second consecutive quarterly loss (The Seattle Times)
Paulson Leads Hedge-Fund Lobby Push to Privatize Fannie (Bloomberg)
Hedge funds including Paulson & Co. Inc. are pushing Congress to abandon plans to liquidate Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac as investors buy up preferred stock that has long been considered worthless, according to people with knowledge of the discussions. The improving finances of the two government-owned mortgage companies have kindled hopes among shareholders that they could be revived as private firms. Even as lawmakers from both parties and U.S. housing officials say that won’t happen, preferred shares of Fannie Mae have more than doubled in price since early March. They closed at $4.75 yesterday. Paulson & Co. is among funds that met with members of the Senate Banking Committee and with staff members in the House of Representatives, said two of the people briefed on the matter.
Visa Inc (V), Alliance Data Systems Corporation (ADS) & More: Navellier & Associates’ Top Portfolio Holdings (Insider Monkey)
With roughly $2.5bn in assets under management, Navellier & Associates is a team of about twelve investment professionals that use quantitative and fundamental analysis to employ its investors’ capital. Headed up by market veteran and educator Louis Navellier, the fund recently released its 13F filing for Q1 2013, outlining its latest holdings and market moves. Let’s take a look at Navellier’s top five equity holdings as indicated by its 13F. Visa Inc (NYSE:V) nears the top of Navellier’s portfolio, commanding a $77mm, 450,000 share investment from the hedge fund. The payment giant has fallen slightly out of fashion with Wall Street lately, as 
Credit: Visa Inc (NYSE:V)
Tiger Asia loses final appeal against Hong Kong regulator (Financial Times)
Hong Kong’s market regulator has won a key victory in its battle to show it can act quickly against offshore investors accused of market abuse after the city’s highest court dismissed an appeal by US-based hedge fund Tiger Asia Management. Tiger Asia, which was set up by protégés of Julian Robertson, one of the world’s best known hedge fund managers, was appealing against attempts by the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong to use…
…a civil court order to freeze some of its assets and ban it from trading in the city. The hedge fund was accused of insider trading in the shares of China Construction Bank and Bank of China in 2009.
Lansdowne Boasts US$4 Billion European Short Book (FINalternatives)
Lansdowne Partners, which manages US$12.4 billion, is short as much as US$4 billion in European equities, ValueWalk reports. The hedge fund is short at least 27 such companies. Among the names present in Lansdwone’s short book are gas engineering company Air Liquide, information technology company Amadeus IT Holding, engineering company Atlas Copco, retailer H & M Hennes & Mauritz, publisher Pearson, engineering company Sandvik and supermarket company Tesco. Most of those shorts are worth in excess of US$200 million.
Chenavari Said to Target $1 Billion Europe Direct Lending Funds (Bloomberg)
Chenavari Credit Partners LLP is raising as much as $1 billion for its European direct lending funds as banks cut loans to small and medium-sized companies and real estate developers, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. Chenavari, whose assets under management soared almost 100 times to $3.75 billion from $40 million five years ago, is seeking to deliver net annual return of about 12 percent for the strategy, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.
Hedge fund group sues over Cayman reforms (Financial Times)
One of the biggest hedge fund service businesses on the Cayman Islands has tried to block sweeping reforms to make the tax haven, the world’s main centre for hedge funds, more transparent. The Caymans is home to more than 9,400 hedge funds, sheltering assets worth an estimated $2.2tn, and has faced increasing calls from investors and governments for an overhaul of its regulation. A company linked to DMS Management, the largest provider of hedge fund “fiduciary services” – the hiring of independent directors to sit on fund boards – has filed a suit against the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, seeking to stop the regulator from “taking any decision” on a range of transparency and corporate governance reforms proposed earlier this year.
France back in hedge funds’ sights as economy stutters (Reuters)
Hedge funds are restoring bets that French bond prices will fall, speculating the country’s gamble on increasing public spending to boost economic growth will fail. With President Hollande’s approval ratings at the lowest of any modern French leader and March jobless claims at an all-time high, some funds think the country’s bond yields should trade closer to those of Italy and Spain than Germany. “The most interesting bet to make in Europe is in France. I still feel in France that the risks are really underpriced,” said Philippe Gougenheim, CEO of Swiss-based Gougenheim Investments, who has recently gone long German bunds and short French bonds using futures.
