Hedge Fund and Insider Trading News: Bill Ackman, Michael Burry, Elliott Management, Glenview Capital Management, Hibbett Inc (HIBB), Wintrust Financial Corp (WTFC), Electrameccanica Vehicles Corp. (SOLO), and More

Bill Ackman Still Sees a Massive Economic Boom Despite the Delta Variant, Says Rates to Rebound (CNBC)
Billionaire investor Bill Ackman said Monday that the spread of the delta variant doesn’t pose a significant threat to the economic reopening, and he sees interest rates rising on the back of the big comeback. “I hope what it does is that it motivates anyone who doesn’t get the vaccine to get the vaccine. I don’t think it’s going to change behavior to a great extent,” Ackman said in a interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

The Difference Between Building A Startup In Bull And Bear Markets (Forbes)
There are three fundamental pillars to startup success – the team, the product, and the market. Choosing the right startup market is crucial for your success, but sometimes market factors are simply out of your control. If you can’t choose to avoid a problem, you need to learn to deal with it. Or even better – to use it as an opportunity. Michael Burry, famous for inspiring the movie “The Big Short” and for making his hedge fund clients around $700 million by predicting the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, has been saying that we’re currently sitting in the greatest speculative bubble in history. Moreover, he is not alone in his worries that a bear market may be coming.

Covalis Capital's Returns, AUM and Holdings

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Duke Energy Responds to Elliott Management’s Latest Letter (Business Insider)
The new Elliott Management letter to the Board of Directors is the latest attempt to push its short-term agenda at the expense of long-term shareholder value as well as the interests of Duke Energy’s employees and the communities it serves. Duke Energy remains open to value-creating ideas in the company’s pursuit of continuous operational improvement and frequently engages with shareholders for their input, including a good faith engagement with Elliott over the last 12 months.

Monitoring Resiliency and Credit Risk in the Commercial Real Estate Debt Market (Preqin)
The US commercial mortgage finance market reopened remarkably quickly after the start of the pandemic. Today, it is flush with capital for most types of real estate investments. Over the past year, investors such as banks, insurance companies, commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) issuers, mortgage REITs, and private debt funds have been allocating increasing amounts of capital to stable and transitional properties and construction projects.

“How to be an Ally”: AIMA Sets Out Practical Recommendations for Hedge Funds on Diversity and Inclusion (Hedge Week)
The Alternative Investment Management Association has published a new paper on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), setting out practical measures outlining how asset managers and other firms can be betters allies to colleagues from minority or underrepresented groups. Against the backdrop of 2020’s Black Lives Matter protests, the Covid-19 pandemic’s disproportionate impact on women, minorities and disadvantaged groups, and continued calls for improved diversity and representation in hedge funds’ boardrooms, AIMA’s paper – titled ‘How to be an Ally: Stories from the Hedge Fund Industry’ – gathers together a wide range of personal perspectives and stories from across the sector on how firms can improve their approach to such challenges.

Coronary CT Imaging Artificial Intelligence Firm HeartFlow to Go Public in $2.4B Deal (Radiology Business)
A vendor that uses CT images to create 3D models of the heart is going public with an enterprise value of $2.4 billion, those involved announced Thursday. Glenview Capital Management is investing in HeartFlow as part of the deal. The New York hedge fund is doing so by creating a special-purpose acquisition company, which will merge with the Redwood City, California, artificial intelligence vendor later this year.

Insider Trading: July 19, 2021 (BIV.com)
Insider Jerry Kroll, director. Company: Electrameccanica Vehicles Corp. (Nasdaq:SOLO). Shares owned: 2,226,558. Trade date: July 1, 2. Trade total: US$805,788. Trade: Sale of 198,470 shares at prices from US$3.94 to US$4.12 per share. Insider Peter Lawrence Gianulis, officer. Company: Organto Foods Inc. (TSX-V:OGO). Shares owned: 5,705,500. Trade date: July 5, 6. Trade total: $90,000. Trade: Acquisition of 200,000 shares at a price of $0.45 per share.

The CFO of Wintrust Financial (NASDAQ: WTFC) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the CFO of Wintrust Financial (WTFC), David Stoehr, sold shares of WTFC for $294.2K. Based on Wintrust Financial’s latest earnings report for the quarter ending March 31, the company posted quarterly revenue of $446 million and quarterly net profit of $153 million. In comparison, last year the company earned revenue of $374 million and had a net profit of $62.81 million. The company has a one-year high of $87.85 and a one-year low of $37.28. Currently, Wintrust Financial has an average volume of 344.97K.

Zymeworks Inc (ZYME) CEO Ali Tehrani Sold $1.6 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO of Zymeworks Inc, Ali Tehrani, sold 44,991 shares of ZYME on 07/16/2021 at an average price of $36 a share. The total sale was $1.6 million.

Monday 7/19 Insider Buying Report: HIBB (Nasdaq.com)
On Thursday, Hibbett’s CIO, Ronald P. Blahnik, made a $197,428 purchase of HIBB, buying 2,200 shares at a cost of $89.74 a piece. Bargain hunters have the opportunity to bag HIBB even cheaper than Blahnik did, with the stock trading as low as $83.03 at last check today — that’s 7.5% below Blahnik’s purchase price. Hibbett is trading down about 2% on the day Monday. This buy marks the first one filed by Blahnik in the past year.