Ackman Says He’ll Return SPAC Funds If New Vehicle Approved (Bloomberg)
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman said he’s prepared to return the $4 billion he collected from investors in his blank-check company if regulators approve a new vehicle that will allow him to continue to search for deals without the pressure of a definitive deadline for a transaction. Ackman posted a letter to investors in his Pershing Square Tontine Holdings Ltd. late Thursday, saying a lawsuit filed this week challenging the legality of his blank-check company hurt his chances of finding a deal.
Hedge Fund Star Whiffs at the Plate (The Wall Street Journal)
Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright. The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light. And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout, but there is no joy at Mudrick – mighty Jason has struck out. Hedge-fund manager Jason Mudrick is about as clutch a player as you can find in the financial world, named among “the hottest hands in hedge funds” by Institutional Investor and even one of “the sexiest hedge-fund managers alive” by Business Insider. But his attempt to snap up a piece of baseball history was a swing and a miss.
Ray Dalio Finally Deigns to Let RIAs Allocate AUM to Bridgewater Funds But with a Coy Approach; He’ll Use iCapital’s Software to Sell Through a Virtual Mystique Boutique (RiaBiz.com)
Ray Dalio is finally ready to sell his investment sorcery to RIAs, but they still need to click their way to him — for now. The founder, co-chief investment officer, and chairman of Bridgerwater Associates in Westport, Conn., has green lit a means for high-net-worth advisors to invest in its previously for-institutions-only hedge fund products. “[Alts for RIAs] is essentially the big “pitch” among consultants, money managers and the like,” says Lorenzo Esparza, CEO and founding principal of Los Angeles RIA, Manhattan West.
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
Brummer Onboarding Sector Specialists (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Brummer & Partners is well on track to onboard two fundamental market-neutral long/short equity sector specialists based out of London: Kersley Street Capital and Pantechnicon Advisors. Kersley Street Capital will launch a financials-focused fund at the beginning of September and industrials-oriented Pantechnicon Advisors plans to launch its fund at the beginning of October, with both funds set to join Brummer Multi-Strategy’s portfolio of funds.
Exclusive: Activist Hedge Fund Starboard Hires Analyst from BlackRock’s Stewardship Team (Reuters)
BOSTON (Reuters) – Activist investor Starboard Value LP poached an analyst from asset manager BlackRock’s investment stewardship team, which exerts great influence on issues such as climate change and board makeup that often are critical to the hedge fund’s campaigns, two sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday. Starboard hired Mack Abbot, a vice president at BlackRock who worked for the world’s largest asset manager for nearly four years, for its investment team, the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Energy Hedge Fund Westbeck’s Momentum Halted, as Rising Covid Cases Send Oil Equities into Retreat (Hedge Week)
Energy-focused hedge fund manager Westbeck Capital Management’s flagship strategy has suffered its first monthly loss in eight months, after surging coronavirus rates in China, Europe and North America dented oil markets – but the fund remains up more than 70 per cent since the start of the year. The Westbeck Energy Opportunity Fund – a long/short directional hedge fund strategy which trades a mix of oil equities, futures and options – fell 5.3 per cent in July. By comparison, the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP), which tracks oil services companies, lost 14.4 per cent in July, while and Brent (total return) gained 2.1 per cent.
Bain to Start Long-Short Hedge Fund Focused on Green Investing (Bloomberg)
Bain Capital is starting a hedge fund to bet on and against companies based on sustainable-investing criteria as part of the alternative asset manager’s roughly $3 billion public-equities business. The firm, which already has a private strategy that makes impact investments, expects to launch the fund by October, according to an investor document viewed by Bloomberg. It will focus on consumer, financial, technology and health-care stocks and invest globally in companies with market values exceeding $1 billion.
Billionaire-Run Investment Firms Like Citadel and Tiger Global are Snapping Up Pricey NYC Offices in a Clear Rebuke to Remote Work (Business Insider)
Financial firms like Tiger Global, Citadel, and Stone Ridge are expanding their New York offices. The activity reflects a belief that the office is key to continued success. Meanwhile, much of corporate America is grappling with when and how to bring workers back. High-flying financial players such as hedge funds, private-equity firms, and other boutique investment companies are expanding their Manhattan offices like it’s 2019.
SEC Charges Netflix Insider Trading Ring (HedgeCo.net)
(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced insider trading charges against three former Netflix Inc. software engineers and two close associates who generated over $3 million in total profits by trading on confidential information about Netflix’s subscriber growth. According to the SEC’s complaint, Sung Mo “Jay” Jun was at the center of a long-running scheme to illegally trade on non-public information concerning the growth in Netflix’s subscriber base, a key metric Netflix reported in its quarterly earnings announcements. The complaint alleges that Sung Mo Jun, while employed at Netflix in 2016 and 2017, repeatedly tipped this information to his brother, Joon Mo Jun, and his close friend, Junwoo Chon, who both used it to trade in advance of multiple Netflix earnings announcements.
Friday 8/20 Insider Buying Report: RL, BRSP (Nasdaq.com)
At Ralph Lauren Corp (RL), a filing with the SEC revealed that on Wednesday, Director Hubert Joly purchased 8,400 shares of RL, for a cost of $117.90 each, for a total investment of $990,360. Investors have the opportunity to grab RL even cheaper than Joly did, with the stock changing hands as low as $114.94 in trading on Friday which is 2.5% below Joly’s purchase price. Ralph Lauren Corp is trading up about 0.1% on the day Friday. This buy marks the first one filed by Joly in the past twelve months. And on Tuesday, CEO and President Michael Mazzei purchased $942,350 worth of BrightSpire Capital (BRSP), purchasing 100,000 shares at a cost of $9.42 each. This buy marks the first one filed by Mazzei in the past year. BrightSpire Capital is trading off about 1.1% on the day Friday.
The Chairman Emeritus of Audacy (NYSE: AUD) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the Chairman Emeritus of Audacy (AUD), Joseph Field, bought shares of AUD for $1.22M. This recent transaction increases Joseph Field’s holding in the company by 2.88% to a total of $45.42 million. Following Joseph Field’s last AUD Buy transaction on May 20, 2020, the stock climbed by 1.7%. Based on Audacy’s latest earnings report for the quarter ending June 30, the company posted quarterly revenue of $304 million and quarterly net profit of $1.43 million. In comparison, last year the company earned revenue of $176 million and had a GAAP net loss of $53.81 million.
