BlueCrest Hires Two Ex-Visium Portfolio Managers (Reuters)
BlueCrest Capital Management has hired two former money managers from shuttered Visium Asset Management‘s London office. Robert Bonte-Friedheim and Owen Taylor joined BlueCrest on Sept. 15 from Visium Asset UK, filings on the website of British regulator the Financial Conduct Authority showed. Visium Asset Management, which once managed $8 billion, has returned most client money after founder Jacob Gottlieb decided to close the fund in the aftermath of an insider trading and fraud scandal involving some of his staff earlier this year.
Hedge Fund SpringOwl Starts New Activist Fund After Viacom Battle (Reuters)
An activist investment firm that helped oust Viacom’s chief executive this year plans to launch a new fund in the fourth quarter, one of its co-founders said on Tuesday. SpringOwl Asset Management, the three-year-old firm founded by Jason Ader and Andrew Wallach, plans to invest in real estate, financial services, consumer and technology companies. Ader, Wallach and their team currently invest roughly $140 million in managed accounts for wealthy families, earning returns between 20 percent and 40 percent this year alone. That beats the average activist fund’s 5.6 percent return. Ader, who earned his reputation on Wall Street as a gaming analyst, said SpringOwl has more ideas than cash.
Acela Fight Splits Hedge-Fund Connecticut and Old-Money Enclaves (Bloomberg)
Connecticut’s residential coastline is two worlds, the one of newcomer millionaires and one whose wealth and New England roots span generations. Now, their differences over a rail route threaten to gum up plans for the U.S. Northeast’s fastest-ever trains. About 30 miles from Manhattan, hedge funds such as Bridgewater Associates and Tudor Investment Corp. and Fortune 500 companies help make Stamford the busiest station in the wealthiest state for Amtrak’s Acela Express. Boardings are 47 percent lower toward the east, where century-old estates overlook the Long Island Sound and the Ivy League’s Yale University has educated scholars for 300 years.
A Relative Of Leon Cooperman Tried To Blow The Whistle On Him (Business Insider)
A family member of Leon Cooperman tried to blow the whistle on trades that the relative described as “fishy.” That’s according to the Securities and Exchange Commission, which on Wednesday charged Cooperman and his $5.5 billion hedge fund, Omega Advisors, with insider trading. The trading involves a company called Atlas Pipeline Partners, according to the SEC complaint. The SEC does not identify the relative, but says they are a hedge fund manager. Cooperman’s son Wayne runs the hedge fund Cobalt Capital Management, which has held positions in Atlas. Business Insider has reached out to Wayne Cooperman but has not received a response.
