Hedge Fund News: Michael Platt, Ken Fisher, Wells Fargo & Co (WFC)

BlueCrest Said to Hire DW Investment’s Heelan to Build ABS Group (SFGate)
BlueCrest Capital Management LLP, the $35 billion hedge-fund firm run by former JPMorgan Chase & Co. trader Michael Platt, hired DW Investment Management LP’s Shaun Heelan to boost its securitized-debt team. Heelan, a former Bank of America Corp. trader, will be a portfolio manager focused on asset-backed securities and commercial-mortgage bonds, according to two people familiar with the move who asked not to be identified because it hasn’t been announced. He will be based in New York to oversee the fund’s securitized investments with John McNiff, who joined from Bank of America in May 2012, the people said.

Hedge Fund Tipster’s Sister Settles With SEC (FINalternatives)
ThanhHa Bao agreed to pay $145,000 and to be barred from serving as an officer or director of a public company for five years, the SEC said yesterday. Bao allegedly gave her brother, Tai Nguyen, confidential quarterly earnings information about medical-device maker Abaxis Inc., where she worked in the finance department. Her brother pleaded guilty last year to passing those tips to two hedge fund managers, Barai Capital Management founder Samir Barai and former SAC Capital Advisors analyst Noah Freeman.

Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index reports gains of 0.22% in February, 2.33% year to date (Opalesque)
The March issue of the Eurekahedge Report reveals that the hedge fund sector has more than $1.8tln under management and enjoyed positive returns across all regions in 2012 – with Asia ex-Japan as the best performing with 12.14% of gains. The performance update for February hedge funds finds that after a strong showing in January on the back of resurgent risk appetite and rallying markets, hedge funds delivered a more muted performance in February as risk aversion increased during the month. The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index was up 0.22% during the month, outperforming the underlying markets which finished in negative territory. The MSCI World Index was down 0.07% in February.

Ennismore is Latest Hedge fund With a Cupid Love Affair (Value Walk)
London-based hedge fund Ennismore Fund Management, seems to think that Cupid PLC (LON:CUP)’s downward journey is not ending anytime soon. The fund reopened its short bet on April 3 after covering it entirely, and the negative position is now 2.22 percent of the online dating company. Cupid PLC (LON:CUP) has been surrounded by allegations of fake profiles which the company has denied vehemently but it seems as if Ennismore is not buying it. The company is a favorite short among hedge funds. Despite the stock’s rising performance and reaffirmation of stock ratings, Odey Asset Management seems undeterred in its short bet in Apr Energy PLC (LON:APR), which was increased yesterday from 1.39 percent to 1.85 percent outstanding shares.

Ex-Icahn’s Denner Said to Start Activist Health-Care Hedge Fund (Bloomberg)
Alex Denner, Carl Icahn’s former top health-care investing executive, is starting an activist hedge- fund firm called Sarissa Capital Management LP, according to three people familiar with the matter. Denner, 43, will begin Greenwich, Connecticut-based Sarissa by next quarter with a seed investment from Meritage Group LP, one of the people said. He will be joined by Mayu Sris, a former investment analyst at Icahn Associates Corp. from 2005 to 2010, as managing director at Sarissa and Richard Mulligan, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, as senior managing director, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public.

Blackstone, Canyon Capital, D. E. Shaw, Fortress and Goldman Sachs Among More Than Sixty Manager Nominees in Institutional Investor Magazine’s Hedge Fund Industry Awards (Houston Chronicle)
Institutional Investor magazine’s announces 65 manager nominees in 14 categories in its 11th Annual Hedge Fund Industry Awards. The awards recognize the hedge funds, funds of hedge funds, seeder firms, investment consultants, endowments, foundations, family offices, corporate funds, sovereign funds and public funds that stood out for their innovation, achievements and contributions to the industry in 2012, as well as Rising Stars of the industry whose individual accomplishments in, and contributions to, the industry make them standout among their peers and position them as future industry leaders. Investor nominees, Rising Stars and Lifetime Achievement and Outstanding Contribution award winners will be announced in…

…the coming weeks. All will be honored and winners will be announced and awarded at a dinner and ceremony at the Mandarin Oriental in New York City on Thursday, June 27, 2013.

Hedge Fund Leverage Increases In Feb. (FINalternatives)
The New York Stock Exchange Debt Margin was $366 billion, $2 billion higher than in January. Hedge fund leverage is still $15 billion below its peak level, $381 billion, reached in July 2007.

Gottex Penjing finds value in smaller Asian hedge fund managers (Opalesque)
May last year saw Swiss headquartered fund of fund specialist Gottex Fund Management announce its purchase of Hong Kong based Penjing Asset Management, thereby creating the Gottex Penjing Asset Management, under new chief executive officer Max Gottschalk with about $700m of its $7bn deployed in Asia hedge funds.

Apple Inc. (AAPL): Billionaire Ken Fisher Just Gave The Stock a Giant Vote of Confidence (Insider Monkey)
Billionaire Ken Fisher is an investment fund manager, not a hedge fund manager, and he chooses to disclose his 13F filings, which are used to track the equity holdings of prominent investors, earlier than his peers. 13F forms are very useful for investors, who like to use it as a way to find stock ideas for further research. According to a filing from April 8th, Fisher has rencently increased his stake in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 551,660 shares. Owning at the end of 2012 a total of 949,124 shares, Fisher currently has 1,500,784 shares in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL), according to a Form 13F filed by Fisher Asset Management’s Chief Compliance Officer, Tom Fishel to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Federal judge tosses Nadel receiver’s lawsuit against Wells Fargo (The Business Journals)
A Tampa federal judge dismissed claims against Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE:WFC) that alleged it aided and abetted Arthur Nadel’s $168 million Ponzi scam. Tampa lawyer Burton Wiand, court-appointed receiver, filed the lawsuit in February 2012 as part of attempts to recover money for investors bilked in Nadel’s hedge fund scheme.

Hedge Fund Vets Launch $100M Litigation Finance Fund (FINalternatives)
A pair of hedge fund veterans have launched a $100 million litigation finance firm, seeking to profit from others’ legal disputes. Gerchen Keller Capital closed on its first investment this month, following in the footsteps of six-year-old Juridica Capital Management and four-year-old Burford Capital, both of which have listed funds in London. Two other litigation finance firms, BlackRobe Capital and Fulbrook Capital Management, debuted in 2011, and Credit Suisse’s unit spun off as Parabellum Capital last year. Firm founders Adam Gerchen and Ashley Keller were colleagues at Chicago hedge fund Alyeska Investment Group before launching the litigation finance firm alongside former Boeing Co. senior counsel Travis Lenkner and former Synthes and Medtronic general counsel Terrance Carlson.