Hedge Fund BAM Strategy Move Ends $250 mln Discretionary Play – Source (Reuters)
LONDON, Aug 4 Hedge fund Balyasny Asset Management (BAM) is closing a $250 million “discretionary” portfolio run by Torbjorn Andreassen who is leaving the firm, a source told Reuters on Thursday. BAM manages a total of $12 billion, primarily in its Atlas Global fund, and allocates some of this cash to teams of underlying portfolio managers such as Andreassen, who had been with the hedge fund in London for almost two years. The firm, which was founded in 2001 by Dimitry Balyasny, is now turning its attention to hiring a new team of traders who will focus on pure “machine-driven” investing, rather than Andreassen’s discretionary strategy which involves plugging trade ideas into a computer which it then executes. Andreassen left after BAM opted to focus on pure “quant” strategies, alongside its core fundamental stock-picking, the source said. BAM did not respond to requests for comment.
Goldman Employees to Pull $350 Million From Och-Ziff Fund (Bloomberg)
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s retirement plan is pulling cash from one of the investment bank’s most famous alumni, liquidating a hedge fund run by Daniel Och’s Och-Ziff Capital Management Group. Och-Ziff shares fell. Almost all of the multi-strategy fund that Och-Ziff manages for Goldman employees will liquidate by Sept. 1, according to an investor letter obtained by Bloomberg. The fund holds about $350 million, a person familiar with the matter said. Och-Ziff has been plagued by redemptions and a federal probe. Och spent a decade at Goldman Sachs, rising to become co-head of U.S. equities trading, and has kept ties with the bank after starting his own company in 1994.
Williams Cos Shareholder Corvex Urges Board Changes: Filing (Reuters)
Williams Cos Inc (WMB.N) shareholder Corvex Management LP has asked the U.S. oil and gas pipeline company to revamp its board with a majority of new directors by replacing members or adding new ones, a regulatory filing on Wednesday showed. Corvex, a New York-based hedge fund led by Keith Meister, urged Tulsa, Oklahoma-based Williams to make the changes within one year, it said in the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. On July 15, Williams said it was seeking highly qualified director candidates, weeks after six of its 13 directors, including company Chairman Frank MacInnis, resigned following a failed attempt to oust Chief Executive Alan Armstrong. A representative for Williams declined to comment.
As U.S. Crude Wobbles Near $40, New Oil Rally In Doubt (Reuters)
U.S. crude’s slide below $40 a barrel this week has hardened the resolve of oil market bears to drive prices lower, with oversupply, refining cutbacks and a breakdown in the oil/dollar trade spelling an end to this year’s rally. Few believe oil will revisit the 12-year lows of $26 to $27 a barrel seen in the first quarter, but many are zeroing in on $35 a barrel or lower for U.S. crude. Short bets have increased in recent weeks as investors believe the spring rally that nearly doubled the price of oil took the market too far, too fast. “The bandwagon trade just two months ago was that we will hit $60, but now $35 is looking like more of a reality,” said John Kilduff, partner at New York energy hedge fund Again Capital.
