Hedge Fund and Insider Trading News: Carl Icahn, Crispin Odey, ValueAct Capital, La Jolla Pharmaceutical (LJPC), New Mountain Finance Corp. (NMFC), and More

Carl Icahn Builds Stake in Caesars Entertainment: Sources (CNBC)
Billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn is building a stake in casino company Caesars Entertainment, sources familiar with the situation said. The size of Icahn’s stake is not immediately known. Caesars shares jumped more than 5.5 percent on Friday. The shares dropped 46 percent last year. Icahn did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment. Last year, another billionaire proposed to make a deal for shares of the casino operator. Tilman Fertitta and advisors offered $13 a share in cash and stock, CNBC reported in October.

Citigroup Allows Hedge Fund ValueAct More Access (Reuters)
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc (C.N) will give ValueAct Capital more access to its books and board of directors, signaling that the bank and the activist investing firm are deepening their relationship roughly a year after ValueAct first invested in Citi. The two said on Friday that they had entered into an “information sharing and engagement agreement,” which will allow for a “deeper level of engagement and cooperation.”

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Brexiters Know a Bad Trade When They See One (Bloomberg)
Crispin Odey thinks Brexit will be canceled. He’s not alone. Capturing the mood of the public better than pollsters or politicians can win you big money. Prominent Brexit supporter Crispin Odey proved it when he correctly wagered that the U.K. would vote to leave the European Union. It matters that the hedge fund manager now says he’s betting that the pound will rebound on the basis that Brexit won’t actually happen after all. It suggests that even Brexiters know a bad trade when they see one.

$21 billion Hedge Fund BlueMountain Capital is Axing its Long-short Equity Fund After Only 2 Years and Firing Several Portfolio Managers (Business Insider)
$21 billion hedge fund BlueMountain Capital Management is closing its long-short equity fund in an effort to shift just two years after launching it, a source familiar with the situation tells Business Insider. As a result, four equity portfolio managers were fired this week, several sources tell Business Insider. BlueMountain recruited several money managers from other funds as it restructured its equity business in 2018, including Mahmood Reza from billionaire Leon Cooperman‘s Omega Advisors to make investments in financial companies and Sanket Patel from Citadel alum Anand Parekh‘s Alyeska Investment Group to manage energy investments.