Hedge Fund Unveils AI Strategy to Temper Crypto Swings (AFR.com)
A US hedge fund is braving this year’s sharp decline in the value of cryptocurrencies to launch two investment strategies aimed at reducing the volatility inherent in digital tokens. AlphaTrAI, a Los Angeles-based hedge fund, has begun raising capital for two portfolios that will invest in a broad basket of the most popular cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and ethereum.
Hedge Fund Founder: ‘No Better Industry To Bet on Over the Next Decade Than Crypto’ (Crypto Globe)
On Monday (June 13), with most top 50 cryptoassets suffering double-digit percentage losses in the past 24-hour period, Ryan Watkins, who is a Co-Founder of crypto-focused investment firm Pangea Fund Management, talked about the importance of “not missing the forest for the trees.” Watkins, who is a former Senior Research Analyst at Messari, and his friend Daniel Cheung, started their own crypto hedge fund — Pangea Fund Management, which is backed by private investment firm Bain Capital — last month.
Axon Capital’s Interest-Rate Call Pays Off (Institutional Investor)
The hedge fund founded by Goldman alum Dinakar Singh is up by double-digits through May. In early 2021, Dinakar Singh, the founder of Axon Capital, warned investors in a client letter that interest rates would be rising, “and massively.”“We think sharply rising rates is both an opportunity and a risk,” Axon said in the letter, obtained by Institutional Investor at the time.
Rawpixel / shutterstock.com
Biospring Partners Brings in $245m for the Debut Fund (Opalesque)
New B2B life science investor Biospring Partners announced the closing of its debut fund with north of $245 million in capital commitments from pension plans, fund of funds, endowments and foundations, and family offices. According to a press release from the growth equity firm, it aims to invest in companies with the potential to fundamentally shift how technology is utilized across the life sciences sector. Co-Founders and Managing Partners, Michelle Dipp, M.D., Ph.D., and Jennifer Lum, believe that life sciences innovation is accelerating due to increasing access to sequencing, cloud computing, and machine learning technologies in addition to significant advancements in synthetic biology and gene editing, it said.
Former Lone Pine Exec Poaches Third Point and Maverick Talent for New Hedge Fund (Hedge Week)
Mala Gaonkar, a former managing director at Lone Pine Capital has recruited staff from rivals Third Point and Maverick Capital for her forthcoming hedge fund launch, according to a report by Bloomberg. Gaonkar has so far built a 13-strong team for SurgoCap Partners, which is expected to launch early next year with at least $1 billion in assets. Notable additions for the new firm’s investment team include Anand Krishnamurthy, former sector head of financials at Maverick, and John Kaszuba, who will oversee data science and analytics having spent 13-years at Third Point. Jason Hong meanwhile, who spent almost 10 years at Third Point, will focus on the application of technology to health-care companies and industrials.
Countryside Properties Puts Itself Up for Sale After Rejecting Bids Amid Investor Pressure and Share Price Fall (This is Money)
Bosses at Countryside Properties will begin a formal sales process after rejecting two takeover bids from one of its largest investors. The FTSE 250 housebuilder revealed a fortnight ago that San Francisco-based hedge fund Inclusive Capital (In-Cap), which already owns 9.2 per cent of the business, had made takeover offers worth 220p and 295p-per-share, respectively.
How Chess Helped Launch the Varied Career of Point72 Quant Exec and Flying-Car Entrepreneur Denis Dancanet (Business Insider)
As the president of Cubist, Point72‘s roughly 300-person systematic trading business, Denis Dancanet is best known as one of the most senior and powerful quants on Wall Street. But Dancanet has also played a key role in the launch of not one but two startups: Theorem, which applies data science to underwriting and investing in consumer loans, and Jetoptera, which is essentially trying to build flying cars. Dancanet, a latecomer to entrepreneurship, is partial to viewing the world like a chess board — a seemingly small move in one corner can reverberate far and wide.
Monday 6/13 Insider Buying Report: VCYT, ATEC (Nasdaq.com)
At Veracyte, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Friday, Chief Executive Officer Marc Stapley purchased 60,000 shares of VCYT, for a cost of $16.33 each, for a total investment of $980,094. Veracyte is trading down about 1.8% on the day Monday. This purchase marks the first one filed by Stapley in the past year. And at Alphatec Holdings, there was insider buying on Friday, by Paul Segal who purchased 71,329 shares for a cost of $7.18 each, for a total investment of $512,126. Before this latest buy, Segal made one other buy in the past year, purchasing $741,106 shares at a cost of $10.98 a piece. Alphatec Holdings is trading down about 0.8% on the day Monday. So far Segal is in the green, up about 4.9% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $7.53.
Insider Trading: June 13, 2022 (BIV.com)
Insider James A. Pattison, 10 per cent owner. Company: Westshore Terminals Investment Corp. (TSX:WTE). Shares owned: 4,559,541. Trade date: May 27. Trade total: $3,768,458. Trade: Acquisition of 103,700 shares at a price of $36.34 per share. Insider Tucker Zengerle, officer. Company: Plurilock Security Inc. (TSX-V:PLUR). Shares owned: 7,803. Trade date: June 1. Trade total: $1,726,838. Trade: Acquisition of 3,167 shares at a price of $545.26 per share.
Executives Sell More Than $211M Of 2 Stocks (Benzinga)
Talos Energy: The Trade: Talos Energy Inc. TALO 10% owner Riverstone V Castex Holdings LP sold a total of 286,990 shares at an average price of $24.50. The insider received around $7.03 million from selling those shares. Liberty Energy: The Trade: Liberty Energy Inc. LBRT 10% owner Schlumberger Technology Corp sold a total of 1,2032,500 shares at an average price of $17.00. The insider received around $204.55 million as a result of the transaction.
City Watchdog Convicted Just Two People for Insider Trading in the Past Five Years (CityA.M.)
The UK’s financial watchdog achieved just two successful convictions against individuals for insider trading over the past five years, according to The Times. New data recovered from the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) via a freedom of information (FoI) request shows the watchdog secured just two successful convictions in the five years running from 2017 to 2021, compared to 20 successful convictions from 2012 to 2016.
Former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Bharara Joins Wilmer Hale Law Firm (Reuters)
June 13 (Reuters) – Preet Bharara, the former U.S. attorney in Manhattan who prosecuted high-profile cases involving Wall Street insider trading, public corruption and terrorism, is joining Washington-based law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, the firm said on Monday. Bharara, 53, was appointed to the U.S. attorney post by Democratic President Barack Obama in 2009 and fired by Republican President Donald Trump in 2017 after refusing to resign.
