New Name, New Office, Similar Performance for Steven Cohen (NYTimes)
The best thing federal prosecutors might have done for Steven A. Cohen, the billionaire investor, is to force him to stop managing money for outside investors and convert his once mighty SAC Capital Advisors hedge fund into a family office. That family office, Point72 Asset Management, continues to outperform many hedge funds this year — even after the firm took a bit of stumble during the recent sell-off in the United States stock markets. Point72, which opened for business in the spring managing about $10 billion, mostly Mr. Cohen’s own money, is said to have generated a year-to-date gross profit of about $1.8 billion, said a person briefed on the matter but not authorized to speak publicly.
Man Group assets up a quarter in third quarter on acquisitions (eFinancialNews)
UK hedge fund manager Man Group on Thursday said funds under management rose by 25% in the third quarter, helped by the acquisitions of Numeric Holdings and Pine Grove Asset Management which added $16.2 billion of assets, but said the outlook for flows is “mixed”. Funds under management stood at $72.3 billion on September 30. Net inflows and performance added $1.3 billion of funds under management, mitigating a $2.9 billion drop from foreign exchange movements as the dollar strengthened. “AHL’s traditional momentum strategies have continued their strong run of absolute and relative performance which led to a significant new institutional mandate and offset the impact of a slowdown in sales at GLG,” said chief executive officer Manny Roman.
Quantopian Raises $15M, Plans a Quant Hedge Fund (BostInno)
If you thought all tech startups were starting to sound the same, here’s one I don’t think you’ve heard before: A startup that’s actually a hedge fund. That’s the plan for Boston’s Quantopian, which on Thursday announced a $15 million Series B round to develop a new type of hedge fund—one that essentially crowdsources the investment decisions from quants (quantitative finance specialists) using the startup’s browser-based algorithmic trading platform. The software aims to enable any finance-minded individual to become a full-fledged quant and make automated stock-market trades, something that only a small number of people had been able to do previously.
Carl Icahn Lost $200 Million On Netflix Over Night (BusinessInsider)
Carl Icahn is has lost $200 million on Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) stock since Wednesday, when the company’s stock plunged 27% in after hour trading. It all fell apart when Netflix reported lower than expected subscriber growth in its 3rd quarter earnings report. Then it cut its growth expectations for the 4th quarter. It didn’t help either that HBO chose Wednesday to announce that it would launch a streaming-only content service by next year.
Florida Pension Adds $2.5B To Alts. (Finalternatives)
The Florida State Board of Administration has spent more than $2.5 billion on a wide array of hedge funds and private equity funds. The $171.8 billion public pension fund made commitments to some 13 alternative investment funds, Pensions & Investments reports. Most of the money, $1.38 billion, went to p.e., and the largest chunk of that went to Inflexion Private Equity Partners, which got $800 million for two funds. Other beneficiaries includes Hellman & Friedman ($200 million), SVB Asset Management ($125 million), Charlesbank Capital Partners ($100 million), ABRY Partners ($75 million), Rubicon Technology Partners ($50 million) and OpenView Venture Partners ($30 million).
Ken Griffin’s optimistic view (CNBC)
Ohio Indicts Hedge Fund Manager (Finalternatives)
A former hedge fund manager has been accused of running a Ponzi scheme that cost investors $50,000. Stephen Moore was indicted in Ohio, hit with six counts that include securities fraud and theft from an elderly person. According to the Ohio Division of Securities, in 2009, Moore raised the money for a hedge fund. But instead of investing the funds, he used them to make payments to other investors. Moore, who formerly lived in Columbus, now resides in New York.
Hedge funds bleed as AbbVie reconsiders Shire bid (Reuters)
Some of the world’s best known hedge funds lost hundreds of millions of dollars in the value of the stock they hold as Shire plunged after AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV)‘s decision to reconsider its $55 billion bid for the British healthcare group. Data from Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulatory body showed that no fund had a major “short” position of more than 0.5 percent, indicating that most hedge funds were confident of the deal’s success. Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson’s Paulson & Co along with Elliott Management, the investment arm of hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer, were among those that had built “long” positions after buying Shire shares.
India regulator confirms ban for Hong Kong hedge fund (Reuters)
India’s market regulator confirmed its ban on Hong Kong-based hedge fund Factorial Capital Management Ltd on Thursday, saying the fund had not been able to disprove insider trading charges levelled against it earlier this year. The Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) ban is the latest in a series of actions by the watchdog to crack down on rogue trades and wayward companies, in a bid to boost investor confidence in Indian capital markets. The case against Factorial is SEBI’s first major probe against a foreign investor in Asia’s third-largest economy.
Lansdowne, Discovery, Brevan Howard Among Funds Losing Money in October (InstitutionalInvestorsAlpha)
A number of hedge funds are suffering big losses in the first week or two of October as equity markets have experienced their highest levels of volatility in a couple of years. So far this month, the Standard & Poor’s 500 is down about 5.6 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite index is off 6.2 percent. One of the firms whose funds are faring badly so far in October is London-based equity-focused manager Lansdowne Partners. The firm tells clients most of its hedge funds are down between 3 percent and 5.5 percent…
Ackman plans to ratchet up Valeant-Allergan takeover battle (TheGlobeAndMail)
Activist investor Bill Ackman is turning up the heat on Valeant Pharmaceuticals Intl Inc (NYSE:VRX)‘s takeover bid for Allergan, Inc. (NYSE:AGN), telling reporters Thursday his group will give new information to securities regulators next week demonstrating Allergan has been manipulating Valeant’s share price. Speaking during a conference in Toronto, Mr. Ackman said Pershing Square Capital LP will amend its previously filed legal action against Allergan with more information showing officials at Allergan have publicly and privately made false comments to Valeant shareholders about Valeant’s financial state to drive down the value of its shares.
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