SAC Adds ‘Big Data’ Firm To Anti-Insider-Trading Effort (Finalternatives)
SAC Capital Advisors is turning to data analytics employed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Central Intelligence Agency to keep an eye on its employees. The hedge fund’s hire of Palantir Technologies is part of its effort to overhaul its compliance systems after its guilty plea to insider-trading charges last year. SAC, which is becoming a family office in the wake of that plea, is also placing a new management layer between founder Steven Cohen and his traders, and will hire a chief surveillance officer. Ten former SAC traders and analysts have been accused of insider-trading. Eight have pleaded guilty or been convicted of criminal allegations.
Hedge fund managers couldn’t stay committed in 2013 (LifeHealthPro)
North American and European managers have been more active in switching service providers in 2013, with 35 percent on both sides of the pond changing service providers during the past year, a new report from Preqin reveals. The trend was more pronounced in certain regions. The report indicates that 55 percent of Asia and rest of world managers have switched a service provider in the past five years (excluding the last 12 months).
Hedge Funds Entering ETF Space To Lure More Investors (FA-Mag)
More client-hungry hedge fund managers are looking to put their investment strategies to work in exchange-traded funds, a move that could exponentially expand their pool of investors but requires them to slash investment management fees. That is a tradeoff many managers of smaller hedge funds are willing to make, hoping Mom-and-Pop investors can fuel their growth. Smaller funds are often less able to attract assets from large pension funds and institutions that prefer the biggest hedge funds with billions in assets and long track records.
Loeb’s Worst Stock Pick Ever Came Courtesy of Bill Ackman (FoxBusiness)
The worst investment shareholder activist Daniel Loeb ever made was the result of a bad tip from a former friend, fellow activist Bill Ackman. In fact, the investment was so bad that Loeb apparently still can’t forgive Ackman for getting him involved, the FOX Business Network has learned. That was the upshot from a private briefing Loeb gave to a group of analysts and investors in New York on February 25. When asked during the talk about his biggest flub as an investor, a visibly agitated Loeb said he lost nearly his entire investment in an Ackman fund that invested in shares of Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT), according to one person who was present.
Pimco: A sovereign under siege (FT)
When Doug Hodge addresses the quarterly meetings of Pimco’s 2,600-strong staff, he typically signs off with a single word, a linguistic flag for the troops to march under. Mr Hodge is the operations guy at the giant bond fund manager, and when he spoke to employees this week – for the first time since his elevation to chief executive in a forced reshuffle that shocked the investment industry – the word he left them with was this: “Grit.” The appeal to resilience and determination is apposite in a period that ranks among the trickiest and most unpleasant in Pimco’s history.
J.P. Morgan hires managing director for global smart-beta strategies (PIOnline)
Soheil Galal joined J.P. Morgan Asset Management (JPM) as managing director and global client portfolio manager within the firm’s asset management solutions-global multiasset group. The position is new. Mr. Galal is responsible for developing the firm’s global smart beta investment strategies, Kristen Chambers, a JPMAM spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. Mr. Galal was partner and co-chief investment officer of hedge fund manager Averos Capital. The firm was acquired by another company in 2012.
SAC Capital’s Plotkin to leave firm (CNBC)
A Collector Changes Course (NYTimes)
Until very recently, Adam D. Sender was riding high. A hedge fund manager and a regular on the contemporary art circuit, he had big dreams and a bank account to match. Since 1998, with the help of the art adviser Todd Levin and several seasoned Chelsea dealers, he has put together a collection of about 800 works by 139 artists, a Who’s Who of contemporary art. It has seminal works by John Baldessari, Urs Fischer, Dan Flavin, Martin Kippenberger, Mike Kelley, Barbara Kruger, Richard Prince, Raymond Pettibon, Elizabeth Peyton, Charles Ray, Ed Ruscha, Cindy Sherman and Rosemarie Trockel, to name a few.
SEC Charges Two In Insider Trading Deal Where Middleman Ate The Evidence (HedgeCo)
A stockbroker and a managing clerk at a hedge fund law firm have been charged with insider trading and making illicit profits of $5.6 million during a four-year period, Reuters reports. Vladimir Eydelman and Steven Metro were linked through a mutual friend who acted as a middleman in the illegal trading scheme, the SEC says. Metro obtained nonpublic information, then tipped the middleman during meetings at a New York City coffee shop…
Dominique Strauss-Kahn raising $2bn for hedge fund (Telegraph)
Former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn plans to raise $2bn for a macro hedge fund. The venture marks Mr Strauss-Kahn’s first partnership with an asset manager for the DSK Global Investment Fund that will invest globally, Mohamad Zeidan, the firm’s chief operating officer, told Reuters. Mr Strauss-Kahn will manage the fund with his daughter and economist, Vanessa Strauss-Kahn, and is currently on a trip to China to raise capital for the hedge fund from institutional investors and wealthy individuals.
Time to stop hating on Wall Street (CNBC)
In the wake of the financial crisis, insider trading, Ponzi schemes and other scandals, it’s become commonplace to bash Wall Street. I should open a piñata store specializing in papier-mâché bankers, traders and hedge-fund managers. I’ll fill them with bitcoins. It’s got to be a high margin/low cost business. Do an Internet search for “Wall Street is evil” and it turns up 67 MILLION results. That’s a lot of piñatas. Look, I understand there’s a lot to be angry about. But how does that old saying go? Something about a book and its cover?…
Odey lures tech research head from BAML (eFinancialNews)
The hedge fund has hired Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s head of European technology research Didier Scemema, according to three people familiar with the situation. Scemema, who spent 13 years with ABN Amro and Royal Bank of Scotland before moving to BAML two years ago, is working his notice at the US bank and will leave on May 21, according to one of the people. Scemema did not return messages seeking comment. Founder Crispin Odey’s $2.4 billion Odey European fund was up 25.8% last year, after gaining 30.7% in 2012…
Hedge Fund Uses Hitler Parody in Campaign Against Ocwen Chairman (NYTimes)
If you’re looking for a little attention, it’s hard to go wrong with Hitler. Glaucus Research, a little-known hedge fund in California, has started an attack on the billionaire William C. Erbey, the chairman of Ocwen Financial, and to publicize its efforts, it has posted a video on YouTube based on the widely parodied German film “Downfall.” The video features a frantic Hitler in a war room during the final days of his reign, with a subtitled conversation about two of Mr. Erbey’s publicly listed companies to convey the firm’s argument that the walls are closing in on his loan and mortgage-servicing empire.
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