Bridgewater’s Main Hedge Fund Loses About 20% in Q1 (Pensions&Investments)
Ray Dalio‘s flagship hedge fund at Bridgewater Associates ended the first quarter down about 20%, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Bridgewater extended this year’s decline after getting caught on the wrong side of the market sell-off that began in late February as a result of the rapidly spreading coronavirus. The firm’s Pure Alpha II strategy fell about 16% in March after posting smaller losses in the first two months of the year, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. Mr. Dalio, who earlier this year urged investors not to miss out on an opportunity to benefit from strong markets, wrote in mid-March that the pandemic hit the firm at the “worst possible moment” because Bridgewater’s portfolios were tilted to benefit from a rise in the market. Bridgewater, with roughly $160 billion in assets, manages the world’s biggest hedge fund.
Four Citadel Portfolio Managers Leave After Market Dives (Bloomberg)
Four equity portfolio managers were fired from Ken Griffin’s Citadel hedge fund last week, after one of the most volatile months for stocks on record. The four managers are Chris Connor, who ran a technology portfolio; Tio Charbaghi and Steve Bergman, who both ran baskets of industrial stocks; and Chip Fortson, who ran a book of financial stocks, according to people familiar with the firm. The managers all worked in the firm’s Global Equities group, which got a new head at the beginning of March, when Justin Lubell took on the role. He previously worked for Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management.
Billionaire Bill Ackman Says He’s ‘Beginning to Get Optimistic’ About a Coronavirus Recovery, Weeks After Saying ‘Hell is Coming’ (Business Insider)
After profiting billions by protecting against the coronavirus market rout, Bill Ackman is hopeful the pandemic will end sooner than expected. The Pershing Square Capital Management CEO took to Twitter Sunday afternoon with new confidence in the virus’s effective containment. He cited the first one-day drop in New York-based virus deaths that took place Saturday, as well as the shutdowns taking place around the country. The number of asymptomatic cases could also be far higher than estimated, the billionaire investor said, bringing the population closer to valuable herd immunity. The rate of less-dangerous cases could be “50x higher than expected,” Ackman tweeted, and antibody tests nearing distribution “will definitively answer this question hopefully soon.”
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Anthony Scaramucci Isn’t Liking Lockdown. He’s Loving It (Institutional Investor)
The Mooch sits unfazed. Ensconced in his Long Island home, Anthony Scaramucci is enduring isolation and crisis like the rest of humanity — although, perhaps, with less hardship than most. But he’s quick to point out that this is, in fact, his ninth financial crisis since he started working on Wall Street in August 1989 (at Goldman Sachs, after graduating from Harvard Law School). As such, his general mien: not giving much of a fuck about anything but his truth.
The Winning And Losing Hedge Funds Of The March Pandemic (Forbes)
Pierre Andurand is an oil trader known for making big bets. His Andurand Capital hedge funds were coming off two straight years of losses, but in February Andurand wagered the coronavirus would shake up the oil market and he started to short oil aggressively. With the price of Brent crude crashing below $23 in March, Andurand’s hedge funds performed incredibly well. His Andurand Commodities Discretionary Enhanced Fund soared by 152.9% in March and returned 122.2% in the first three months for 2020. The Andurand Commodities Fund rose by 63.7% last month and has returned 53.1% in 2020. Andurand Capital’s assets, which were about $1 billion a year ago, are roughly split between the two funds.
€5Bn Fund Family Holds up in Market Turmoil (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – With performance figures being released for March, many Nordic hedge funds have turned in their worst month in years. A handful of funds such as Nordea’s Alpha family of funds emerged as the industry’s bright spots amid the recent turmoil. The three Nordea funds part of the Nordic Hedge Index, which collectively manage over €5 billion, generated positive uncorrelated returns in March, ranging from 2.2 percent to 4.9 percent. Nordea’s Alpha family – comprised of Alpha 7 MA Fund, Alpha 10 MA Fund and Alpha 15 MA Fund – all share the same investment approach but exhibit different risk-return profiles.
Hedge Funds’ Defensiveness Finally Pays Off (The Wall Street Journal)
The $3 trillion hedge-fund industry, with its defensive approach to investing, has significantly underperformed the stock market over the past decade. But in the current market turmoil, hedge funds have been holding up much better than stocks. During the first two months of the year (February being the latest full month for which hedge-fund data is available from the Backstop BarclayHedge database), the hedge-fund industry lost 3.04% compared with the S&P 500’s decline of 8.27%. Initial, incomplete first-quarter data through…
Bridgeport to Provide Liquidity Solution for Hedge Fund Investors (Hedge Week)
Bridgeport Financial Technology is working with various counterparties to provide hedge fund investors with immediate liquidity through loan facilities collateralised by their fund investments. The company is poised to leverage key features of its private fund transaction and marketplace lending platform, BridgePort, in the wake of an anticipated surge in hedge fund redemption suspensions. Through a unique investor-to-investor (i2i) marketplace lending feature, the BridgePort Liquidity Exchange (BLX) matches liquidity seekers with liquidity note investors. BLX allows private fund managers to offer alternative liquidity optionality to investors, while avoiding portfolio disruption, asset valuation challenges and “fire sales”, or interference with existing fund liquidity terms.
Hedge Fund Employees Praise Founder for Actions During Virus (efinancialcareers.com)
As the global coronavirus pandemic continues, it’s becoming apparent that the way employers treat employees during the crisis is likely to cast an enduring shadow. With some banks accused of encouraging people to come into work when (employees say) it’s not strictly necessary, organisations that proactively sent staff home early in the pandemic may come to be regarded far more fondly than others. One of those in this category is WorldQuant, the quantitative hedge fund founded by Igor Tulchinsky that manages over US$7.5bn in assets on behalf of Millennium Management and other investors. While banks dithered in their initial reaction to the virus, employees say Tulchinsky acted swiftly and sent WorldQuant’s U.S. employees home on 6 March.
A Director at Public Storage (NYSE: PSA) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, a Director at Public Storage (PSA), Wayne Hughes, bought shares of PSA for $471.3K. Following Wayne Hughes’ last PSA Buy transaction on January 11, 2019, the stock climbed by 1.0%. In addition to Wayne Hughes, one other PSA executive reported Buy trades in the last month.
Notable Insider Buys In The Past Week: Carvana, MGM And More (Benzinga)
Insiders continued to take advantage of fallen share prices last week. The following are some of the most noteworthy insider purchases reported in the past week. A pair of beneficial owners took advantage of a direct offering to add a total of 955,500 or so Carvana Co CVNA 17.66% shares. At $45 per share, that cost them around $43 million. The used car company said it raised money for a restructuring effort. MGM Resorts International: MGM 18.39% saw President William Hornbuckle and other insiders pick up almost 2.2 million shares for $10.60 to $12.35 each. That totaled over $25.51 million. Hornbuckle’s stake is up to over 148,700 shares. Virginia-based tech company Appian Corp NASDAQ:AAPN saw a beneficial owner return to the buy window. At prices ranging from $35 to $42 for 384,400 or so shares, the latest purchases added up to more than $14.75 million.
Citrix Systems Inc (CTXS) EVP of Engineering Rotterdam Jeroen Van Sold $1.2 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
EVP of Engineering of Citrix Systems Inc., Rotterdam Jeroen Van, sold 8,386 shares of CTXS on 04/03/2020 at an average price of $142.01 a share. The total sale was $1.2 million. Citrix Systems Inc provides virtualization, networking and cloud infrastructure solutions. It provides a complete and integrated portfolio of application delivery, virtualization, mobility, network delivery and file sharing solutions.
SEC Awards Approximately $2 Million to Whistleblower (HedgeCo.net)
(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced an award of approximately $2 million to a whistleblower who provided vital information and assistance that substantially contributed to an ongoing investigation. The whistleblower’s information would have been difficult for the agency to obtain absent the tip. “The whistleblower’s actions in this matter were extraordinary,” said Jane Norberg, Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower. “The whistleblower expeditiously reported the information to the Commission and provided valuable assistance despite implied threats from the wrongdoers.” The SEC has awarded over $398 million to 78 individuals since issuing its first award in 2012. All payments are made out of an investor protection fund established by Congress that is financed entirely through monetary sanctions paid to the SEC by securities law violators.
