Brevan Howard’s Main Hedge Fund Gains 6.8% as Panic Roils Market (Bloomberg)
Brevan Howard Asset Management’s flagship hedge fund rose 6.8% last week as the escalating coronavirus outbreak rocked markets. The gain in the week through March 6 boosted the $3.2 billion macro fund’s returns this year to nearly 11%, according to a letter to investors seen by Bloomberg. A spokesman for the Jersey-based investment firm declined to comment.
Hedge Fund Solus Restricts Investor Redemptions (The Wall Street Journal)
Hedge-fund manager Solus Alternative Asset Management LP, known for its investment in retail chain Toys ‘R’ Us, told investors this week that it will restrict redemptions after the fund’s losses deepened, according to people familiar with the matter. Solus is a frequent lender to distressed borrowers and its troubles come as market participants grapple with volatility and forced selling driven by the collapse in oil prices and the spread of the coronavirus.
York Alum Combines Public, Private Deals (HFAlert.com)
A former York Capital executive is starting a hedge fund firm that would trade public equities while allowing limited partners to co-invest in private-company deals. Glen Gordon is aiming for July to launch the debut fund from his New York-based Markley Capital. There’s no word yet on whether he has begun marketing the vehicle broadly or how much capital he hopes to raise, but sources said his history as one of just a few senior managing directors at York should attract serious attention from institutional investors. The fund primarily would take long and short positions in a concentrated portfolio of stocks identified via fundamental research, with its positions spanning numerous sectors. The strategy may key in on certain event-driven catalysts, emphasizing complex companies that Gordon views as out of favor with other investors, a source said.
Chad McDermott / Shutterstock.com
Prudential to Float Part of U.S. Business as Third Point Demands Sale (Reuters)
LONDON/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Prudential (PRU.L) plans to float a minority stake in its U.S. business, Britain’s largest insurer said on Wednesday, as it faces demands from rebel investor Third Point for a full break-up. The U.S. hedge fund last month said it had bought around 5% of the company and called on Prudential to hive off its U.S. business Jackson and cut its London head office, proposals with which investors have sympathy. Prudential’s main businesses are in Asia and the United States after it spun off its British unit last year.
Hedge Fund Investors Take the Naked Volatility Test (Bloomberg)
It’s only when the tide goes out that you find out who’s been swimming naked, the billionaire investor Warren Buffett famously opined. After the violent moves in stocks and bonds this week, H20 Asset Management’s traders need to keep hold of their Speedos. The firm, run by Bruno Crastes and Vincent Chailley and backed by French bank Natixis SA, saw its funds hammered by losses as stocks, oil and Italian bonds slumped on Monday. Its Multiequities fund declined by about 30% in a single day and erased six years of gains, while its Multibonds strategy lost 20%, as my colleagues at Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.
Catella Hedgefond Hunts Mispricing (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Catella Hedgefond, one of the largest hedge funds in the Nordics, was down 2.5 percent in February and down 4.9 percent year-to-date through March 10, but the fund’s portfolio managers are ready to capitalize on mispriced opportunities caused by market turmoil. “We are trying to be responsive and pragmatic in the current situation and will hopefully be able to exploit the mispricing that naturally arises during periods of high market turbulence,” says fund manager Mattias Nilsson. Catella Hedgefond mainly invests in Nordic equities and bonds to achieve stable returns at low risk, regardless of market conditions.
What is Carl Icahn’s Net Worth? (Fox Business)
Carl Icahn, New York businessman and founder of Icahn Enterprises, is one of Wall Street’s most successful investors, who has shaken up corporate America and ran an investment fund comprising his personal fortune and the money of Icahn enterprises. As a notorious “corporate raider,” how much has New York’s real-life Gordon Gekko banked? Icahn’s career began in the early 1960s as a trainee stockbroker at Dreyfus & Company, progressing to an options trader. In 1968, Icahn used his $150,000 of his savings and a check for $400,000 from his uncle, Elliot Schall, to establish Icahn & Company, specializing in risk arbitrage and options trading.
Opalesque Exclusives: Fund Managers Join Central Bankers in Call for Fiscal Response to Virus Woes (Opalesque.com)
Fund managers are joining central bankers in the push for a fiscal response to the economic uncertainty surrounding coronavirus. Markets rebounded slightly on Tuesday, after plunging on Monday’s news that the virus had worsened in Italy and the US. Sector analysts are predicting weakness in most sectors of the economy as the market realizes that the impact of the virus will extend well beyond global supply chains. While the US Federal Reserve responded with an emergency 50bps interest rate cut, the central bank has noted that monetary policy can only go so far. Central bankers worldwide called on governments to facilitate a swift and sweeping response to the virus, both to help contain it and mitigate the economic impact. Fund managers and financial firms have also echoed the need for a strong fiscal stimulus package alongside comprehensive viral mitigation efforts.
Wednesday 3/11 Insider Buying Report: CLF, HPP (Nasdaq.com)
At Cleveland-Cliffs, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Wednesday, CEO Lourenco Goncalves bought 200,000 shares of CLF, at a cost of $4.49 each, for a total investment of $898,260. Cleveland-Cliffs is trading down about 5.1% on the day Wednesday. Before this latest buy, Goncalves made one other buy in the past twelve months, purchasing $93,597 shares for a cost of $9.36 a piece. And at Hudson Pacific Properties, there was insider buying on Friday, by Director Ted R. Antenucci who bought 15,625 shares for a cost of $31.92 each, for a total investment of $498,750. Hudson Pacific Properties is trading down about 8.8% on the day Wednesday. Investors can snag HPP at a price even lower than Antenucci did, with shares trading as low as $27.30 in trading on Wednesday — that’s 14.5% below Antenucci’s purchase price.
Salesforce.com Inc (CRM) Chairman of the Board & co-CEO Marc Benioff Sold $1.6 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
Chairman of the Board & co-CEO of Salesforce.com Inc., Marc Benioff, sold 10,000 shares of CRM on 03/10/2020 at an average price of $156.72 a share. The total sale was $1.6 million. Salesforce.com Inc is a software-as-a-service company that provides enterprise cloud computing solutions, offering social and mobile cloud apps and platform services, as well as professional services to facilitate the adoption of its solutions.
The CEO of New Mountain Finance (NYSE: NMFC) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the CEO of New Mountain Finance (NMFC), Robert Hamwee, bought shares of NMFC for $203.4K. Following this transaction Robert Hamwee’s holding in the company was increased by 4.44% to a total of $4.93 million. Based on New Mountain Finance’s latest earnings report for the quarter ending December 31, the company posted quarterly revenue of $73.69 million and quarterly net profit of $21.45 million.
