Baupost up nearly $1 billion on Merck-Idenix deal (CNBC)
Not bad for a single trade: Baupost Group appears to have made nearly $1 billion on just one of its stock picks. Seth Klarman‘s hedge fund firm owns a stake in Idenix Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:IDIX), the hepatitis C-focused drug maker that Merck agreed to buy Monday for $3.85 billion, or $24.50 per share. The stock jumped to about $24 a share Monday after closing at $7.23 Friday. Assuming that Baupost still holds the more than 53.3 million shares it disclosed as of March 31, that would mean a paper gain of roughly $900 million. The apparent big profit on Monday slightly underestimates Baupost’s real haul…
Hedge fund trim Brent crude bets, slash gasoil net longs-ICE (Reuters)
Hedge funds and other large speculators cut their bets on higher Brent crude oil prices in the week to June 3 and slashed positions in ICE gas oil by more than 40 percent, data from the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) showed on Monday. Brent crude speculators cut their net long positions by 16,420 futures and options contracts to 196,944 in the seven days to June 3, the first reduction in four weeks and only the second cut since the first week of April. Brent crude oil futures fell to $108.82 a barrel over the seven days to June 3 from $110.02 a barrel.
Senior Barclays repo trader signs up to Millennium hedge fund spin-off (eFinancialCareers)
Sarah Hodges (nee Daulby), a senior repo trader who spent over ten years at Barclays, has joined Symmetry Investments, one of the most hotly-tipped Asian hedge fund launches of 2014 from former Millennium Capital Partners executives. Hodges joined Symmetry in London earlier this month as head of fixed income financing, having previously been a director within Barclays’ repo trading team. Feng Guo, a former portfolio manager at Millennium, and Michael Robinson, who was managing director and Asian regional manager at the firm, unveiled plans to launch Symmetry Investments in July last year.
Andy Hall’s fund up 16 pct through May even in lackluster oil market (Reuters)
Oil trader Andy Hall‘s hedge fund firm is up for a fourth straight month for its longest winning streak in three years and in a turnaround from 2013 losses, performance data it released to investors and seen by Reuters showed on Monday. Hall, known for taking bullish long-term bets on the price of oil, has notched big gains despite a relatively range bound oil market lately. His Westport, Connecticut-based fund company, Astenbeck Capital Management LLC, is up nearly 16 percent through May, after a positive showing since February, the data showed. The firm, mostly invested in oil and managing $3.4 billion across three separate funds, finished down about 8 percent last year.
City Tells Owner of 20 Goats To ‘Butt Out’ Of Detroit Neighborhood (CBSLocal)
After butting heads with the city of Detroit, a group seeking to raise goats in the city has apparently given up — for now. It started last week when hedge fund manager Mark Spitznagel brought 20 young goats from his farmstead in Northport, Mich., to the Brightmoor neighborhood of Detroit as part of a plan to promote urban renewal and farming, according to the New York Times. The city objected, and Spitznagel ended up taking his goats and going home. If he hadn’t vacated the pen by noon Monday, the city’s animal control threatened him with a $500 ticket per goat.
The new private equity (CNBC)
