Citadel Puts Clout Behind Effort to Safeguard U.S. Treasuries (Bloomberg)
Ken Griffin’s $32 billion hedge fund is backing efforts to make the Treasury market safer and sounder through the backstop of a central clearinghouse. Citadel last month became the first firm to clear both a Treasury and repurchase agreement through a new Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. platform. In March, DTCC changed its rules so more companies like Citadel that aren’t members of its clearinghouse can get trades processed there by going through a member firm.
Carlson Capital Weighing a Shutdown of Black Diamond Thematic Fund (The Wall Street Journal)
Carlson Capital L.P. is weighing whether to shut down one of the Dallas-based company’s largest funds, with the fund’s two portfolio managers having already left the firm, according to people familiar with the situation. The fund, known as the Black Diamond Thematic Fund, controlled about $1.4 billion at its peak in January 2017, according to one of the people. The Black Diamond Thematic Fund has been struggling with poor performance since at least 2018, the people said, and shrunk to $155 million in assets under management..
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Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Marc Lasry on Income Inequality in the… (CNBC)
Marc Lasry, Avenue Capital Group co-founder, chairman and CEO, joins “Squawk Box” to discuss how the United States can overcome income inequality.
Activist Hedge Fund Elliott Trims Stake in UK’s Whitbread (Reuters)
July 19 (Reuters) – Activist investor Elliott Capital Advisors has trimmed its stake in Premier Inn owner Whitbread to below 5%, a filing here on Friday showed. The Sunday Telegraph reported in May that Elliott had become increasingly frustrated with Whitbread’s strategy of owning Premier Inn hotels outright and wanted the company to offload chunks of its property portfolio. According to the report, the activist investor believes Whitbread’s strategy is depressing the company’s share price and is leaving it open to a cut-price hostile takeover.
Big Donor Steyer’s Presidential Run Could Deny millions to Other Democratic Races (Reuters)
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) – Billionaire Tom Steyer, a longtime friend and key donor to liberal candidates and causes, says he decided to run for the Democratic presidential nomination next year because no other candidate was offering a “mandate for change”. But by deciding to fund his long-shot bid with $100 million of his own money, some Democratic activists believe all he will end up doing is denying his money to grassroots organizations and candidates in Senate and House races that Democrats are desperate to win.
Ray Dalio Adds to Growing Gold Chorus as Mint CEO Awaits Retail Nod (Bloomberg)
Billionaire hedge-fund manager Ray Dalio sent ripples through the gold market this week when he advised buying the metal, but he’s part of a bigger wave. In the past month, banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Citigroup Inc. and Morgan Stanley have raised their forecasts for bullion or touted its prospects, while holdings in exchange-traded funds linked to gold rose to a six-year high. Richard Hayes, chief executive officer of Australia’s Perth Mint, said buying by central banks is adding to the enthusiasm.
Hedge Fund Assets Eclipse 2018 Record (Hedge Week)
Total hedge fund assets increased to USD3.245 trillion in the second quarter of the year, narrowly eclipsing the previous record level of USD3.244 trillion in Q3 2018, according to the latest HFR Global Hedge Fund Industry Report. Led by a strong Q1 recovery from the defensive outperformance in Q4 2018, the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index gained +7.44 per cent in the first half of 2019, the strongest 1H gain since 2009. Like many US equity market indices, the 2019 performance increases the HFRI to a record index value of 14,391. Total hedge fund assets increased by USD63.7 billion in Q2 on strong performance-based gains, following the USD78.8 billion increase in Q1 and bringing the YTD capital growth to USD142.5 billion through June.
Finnish HCP Reaches AUM Milestone (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Helsinki-based asset manager Helsinki Capital Partners has now reached €100 million in assets under management on the back of strong performance from its long-only equity hedge fund, HCP Focus. After gaining nearly 40 percent year-to-date through the end of last week, the assets overseen by HCP Focus increased to €70 million at the end of June from around €46 million at the end of last year. Founded in 2007, Helsinki Capital Partners currently manages three distinct hedge funds. Managed by Ernst Grönblom, HCP Focus Fund is a long-only equity hedge fund maintaining a very concentrated portfolio of undervalued high-quality businesses.
86 New Hedge Funds Launched in 2Q 2019 (Opalesque.com)
There were 86 new hedge fund launches in Q2 2019, of which 87% were traditional single-manager commingled funds, said Preqin in ints Quarterly Update. No CTAs launched in Q2, which could be a knock-on effect of underperformance in 2018 (-3.96% vs. -3.01% for hedge funds), it said. Europe-based funds accounted for a greater proportion (36%) of hedge fund launches in Q2, up from 23% in Q1. Notable managers including Man Group, Algebris Investments and Credit Suisse all launched hedge fund strategies in the quarter. New hedge funds have steadily shifted their allocations over the past four quarters from a global focus to more region-specific opportunities in developed markets.
