Hedge Fund and Insider Trading News: Alan Howard, Paul Tudor Jones, Michael Burry, David McCormick, Millennium Management, Third Point LLC, Maverick Capital, Carvana Co (CVNA), Activision Blizzard Inc. (ATVI), and More

Millennium Spinoff Modular Hires Liebau for Blockchain Strategy (Bloomberg)
Modular Asset Management, a hedge-fund spinoff from Israel Englander’s Millennium Management, hired Daniel Liebau as chief investment officer for a strategy that will focus on sustainable blockchain technologies. Liebau, the founding director of Lightbulb Capital, will report to Modular Chief Executive Officer Jimmy Lim and be based in Singapore, according to an e-mailed statement Wednesday. Modular manages about $1 billion.

Third Point Takes Stake in Cano Health, Pushes for Company Sale (Reuters)
BOSTON (Reuters) – Hedge fund Third Point LLC said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday that it owns a 6.37% stake in Cano Health and is urging a strategic review that should focus on selling the U.S. company. The New York firm, run by billionaire investor Daniel Loeb, said that it does not have plans to seek board seats now but may do so in the future if Cano’s board does not “adequately address the value gap” between the company’s share price and its intrinsic value.

Mainstream Hedge Funds Pour Billions of Dollars Into Crypto (The Wall Street Journal)
Some of the biggest names in the hedge-fund world are betting on crypto. Veterans including Alan Howard, co-founder of Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP, and Paul Tudor Jones, the billionaire who runs Tudor Investment Corp., are expanding their crypto trading, according to people familiar with the situation.

Countries with the Smallest Government Per Capita in the World

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Fox News Poll: McCormick Tops Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania GOP Senate Primary Poll (Fox News)
Former hedge fund CEO David McCormick has a clear advantage in Pennsylvania’s Republican primary for U.S. Senate, including besting television celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz — although many primary voters remain undecided. A Fox News survey of Pennsylvania GOP primary voters finds McCormick tops Oz by 9 points (24%-15%). Others receive support in the single digits, including Kathy Barnette and Jeff Bartos (9% each), and Carla Sands (6%). Nearly one-third (31%) are unsure which candidate they will support in the May 17 primary.

Paleo Shaping up for a Long Race (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – In a chance to catch up with one of the managers qualifying for this year´s “Nordic Hedge Fund Rookie of the Year” we talked to Karl Oscar Strom, of Paleo Fund AIF. The fund currently is available only to Norwegian professional investors and runs around seven million Euro just ahead of its second round of investments into the vehicle. Strom runs a multi strategy approach, focusing on western markets with an emphasis on tech plays. The majority of trades is around equity instruments, which can be single stock or indices, typically futures on the largest markets such as Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 but also as also futures traded on some commodities, crypto currencies, AEX, DAX or OMX are within the mandate.

What Stocks Does ‘The Big Short’ Investor Michael Burry Own? (Business Insider)
Michael Burry is the founder and former hedge fund manager of now-defunct Scion Capital, most famously known for his massively profitable contrarian investment in the events leading up to the collapse of the real estate market and subsequently the global financial crisis in 2008. Burry was active on Twitter (NYSE:TWTR) in 2021 until he closed his bearish bets on Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA). He has since deleted his tweets, and his account. He is the hedge fund manager at Scion Asset Management.

Greenlight Re Improves Income, Sees Better Investing Conditions (ReInsurancene.ws)
Hedge fund-backed reinsurer Greenlight Re has reported improved income over 2021, despite incurring a dip in the fourth quarter of the year, and is now seeing investment conditions better aligned with its strategy, the company says. Greenlight-ReGreenlight Re recorded net income of $24.3 million and $17.6 million for the Q4 and full-year periods, respectively, compared with $42.0 million and $3.9 million for the same periods in the previous year.

Ocorian Adopts BlackRock’s eFront Suite for Global Fund Admin Platform (Hedge Week)
Ocorian, a provider of corporate, fund and fiduciary administration services for private markets, has selected the full eFront Invest suite to support the ongoing growth of its Global Funds business. The announcement builds on Ocorian’s long-standing relationship with eFront by adding new capabilities such as Fund Administration, Investor Services, AIFM and Lite Depositary services.

Maverick’s Roller Coaster Ride (Institutional Investor)
The Tiger Cub’s strong February wasn’t nearly enough to offset January’s huge losses. Maverick Capital’s hedge funds rebounded sharply in February.Unfortunately, they were down a lot more in January, so they still remain deeply in the red for the year, in what has so far been two very volatile months for the Tiger Cub headed by Lee Ainslie III.

BlackRock Hedge Fund Raised Its Russia Bet, Suffered Record Loss (Bloomberg)
One hedge fund team at BlackRock Inc. saw Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as a chance to buy more of the country’s stocks. That decision has backfired. BlackRock’s Emerging Frontiers Fund plunged over 10% in February, suffering the worst trading loss since it started more than a decade ago, according to people with knowledge of the matter and an investor document seen by Bloomberg. The fund, which was managing $960 million at the end of January, is now down about 7% this year, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the details are private.

Wednesday 3/9 Insider Buying Report: CVNA (Nasdaq.com)
At Carvana, there was insider buying on Friday, by Director Michael E. Maroone who bought 25,000 shares at a cost of $104.77 each, for a total investment of $2.62M. Carvana is trading up about 16.4% on the day Wednesday. Maroone was up about 17.0% on the buy at the high point of today’s trading session, with CVNA trading as high as $122.60 at last check today.

U.S. Probes Trade by Barry Diller, David Geffen Before Big Merger (The Wall Street Journal)
Federal prosecutors and securities regulators are investigating large bets that Barry Diller, Alexander von Furstenberg and David Geffen made on Activision Blizzard Inc. shares in January, days before the videogame maker agreed to be acquired by Microsoft Corp., according to people familiar with the matter. The three men have an unrealized profit of about $60 million on the options trade, based on the recent Activision share price of around $80, according to the people.

Barry Diller Denies Insider Trading on Microsoft, Activision Deal as DOJ and SEC Investigate Him and Geffen (CNBC)
Barry Diller strongly denied the idea that he, his stepson, and longtime pal and fellow mogul David Geffen engaged in insider trading in purchases of Activision Blizzard call options that are under investigation by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Diller, Geffen and Diller’s stepson Alex von Furstenberg together made large bets on Activision stock shares just days before that videogame maker said it had agreed to be bought by Microsoft, The Wall Street Journal reported. “None of us had any knowledge from any person or any source or any anything about a potential acquisition of Activision by Microsoft,” Diller told CNBC.