Hedge Fund and Insider Trading News: Cathie Wood, Ray Dalio, Irenic Capital Management, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, BlueCrest Capital Management, Man Group, Cabaletta Bio Inc (CABA), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), and More

Hedge Fund Irenic Asks Capricorn Energy to Ditch NewMed Deal (Reuters)
Irenic Capital Management, a hedge fund that owns a 1.5% stake in Capricorn Energy Plc (CNE.L), asked the natural gas producer on Wednesday to abandon its sale to Israel’s NewMed Energy LP (NWMDp.TA) in favor of selling its assets piecemeal. Irenic’s intervention challenges a deal that would create a London and Tel Aviv-listed gas giant, at a time when European countries are looking for such companies to help with a supply crunch caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Cathie Wood Became an Accidental Celebrity Investor. Now She Needs to Prove Her Critics Wrong. (Observer.com)
Cathie Wood, the founder and chief investment officer of asset management firm Ark Invest, never expected to be at the center of the spotlight like she has been in the past two years. “[Our firm] did have a social strategy, but I was hoping to make the young people – analysts, portfolio managers, advisors – famous, not myself,” she told the Observer at an event in New York City Oct. 17.

A $14 Billion NYC-based Hedge Fund is Trying a Different Approach to Getting People into the Office — Opening a Suburban Hub Where Its Traders and Managers Live (Business Insider)
$14 billion Schonfeld Strategic Advisors is taking a different route from other Wall Street firms to get their employees into the office and to attract talent in the long run. Schonfeld has opened a new office in Summit, New Jersey – not the typical satellite office location for a firm that’s positioning itself to be a multi-manager rivaling giants like Citadel and Millennium. The family-office-turned-hedge fund has been on a growth tear since Ryan Tolkin took over as chief executive at the beginning of 2021. In the last year, the firm has added roughly 250 employees, including 20 new investment teams across its strategies.

Countries with the Smallest Government Per Capita in the World

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Trio of Hedge-Fund Veterans Eye $1 Billion for New Multistrategy Firm (The Wall Street Journal)
As an era of cheap money ends, one new investment firm spies opportunity. Palekana, named after the Hawaiian word for “safe,” will launch in December with the backing of William Reeves, the co-founder of BlueCrest Capital Management, which was once one of Europe’s biggest hedge-fund managers. He will be joined by Gerard Griffin, founder of Tisbury Capital Management, a $2.8 billion event-driven manager, and Jonathan Martin, who worked at BlueCrest and then ran Markham Rae, a $1.25 billion multi-strategy manager.

The 3 Keys to the Success of Bridgewater, the Largest Hedge Fund Founded by Ray Dalio in 1975. (DataDrivenInvestor.com)
The trader who won is the last one sitting at the poker table when everyone else has gone broke. After forty-seven years at the helm of Bridgewater, Ray Dalio, 73, has seen many of his competitors go under. He has been through many market and internal crises, but none of them have been fatal. He has survived in an ultra-competitive sector where the life expectancy of hedge funds is only a few years.

Activist Investors See Opportunity in Rocky Markets (The New York Times)
Turbulent periods for the markets aren’t usually regarded as the best times for activist investors, the hedge funds that buy stakes in companies with the aim of forcing changes in corporate strategy, like selling businesses or doing stock buybacks. But based on the packed crowd at the 13D Monitor Active-Passive Investor Summit in New York City on Tuesday — where the lines for coffee and macarons were scores deep with hedge fund executives, investment bankers and corporate lawyers — the business of activism is hotter than it has been in years, reports the DealBook newsletter.

Portfolio Allocation in Alternatives: Real Estate (Preqin)
Portfolio managers have many complex decisions to make to balance their funds to reduce risk and enhance returns. Since the Global Financial Crisis, investors have sought assets that produce high-risk adjusted returns, prompting them to consider new allocations to diversify portfolios. To help you visualize the different scenarios and decide which asset classes to include in your portfolios, we have created the Preqin Portfolio Allocation in Alternatives series.

UK Fund Managers Suffer Asset Declines on Shaky Markets (International Business Times)
A quartet of British fund managers said assets under management (AUM) dropped by $9.8 billion in aggregate in the three months to end-September, after a sharp sell-off in UK stocks and bonds in recent weeks compounded longer-held worries about a global slowdown. Britain’s largest listed hedge fund firm Man Group said its AUM dropped by 2.7%, while rivals Quilter, Rathbones and Liontrust Asset Management booked falls of 2%, 1.7% and 7.3%, their respective statements showed.

Hedge Funds Are Betting U.K.’s Most Battered Assets Will Rebound (FA-Mag.com)
A number of hedge funds are starting to come around to the idea that it may be time to buy the beaten-up pound and gilts. Others say investors should remain cautious. Great Hill Capital in New York sees opportunities to go long sterling after the currency’s recent wild ride. Blue Edge Advisors Pte sees positives in longer-maturity gilts as global growth slows. “I would buy it here and suck up any short-term volatility,” said Thomas Hayes, chairman and managing member at Great Hill. “I cannot tell you what will happen to the pound in the next days, weeks or months, but over the next one-to-three years the pound will be meaningfully higher against the dollar.”

London Hedge Fund VR Capital Blocks Naftogaz Restructuring – FT (Reuters)
London-based hedge fund VR Capital is resisting efforts by Ukraine’s state-owned gas company Naftogaz to restructure its debt, the Financial times reported on Wednesday. VR Capital is one of the lead investors involved in a stand-off between Naftogaz and its bondholders, FT reported, citing sources.

Wednesday 10/19 Insider Buying Report: CABA, OMI (Nasdaq.com)
On Tuesday, Cabaletta Bio’s Chief Financial Officer, Anup Marda, made a $49,620 purchase of CABA, buying 50,000 shares at a cost of $0.99 a piece. Marda was up about 24.9% on the buy at the high point of today’s trading session, with CABA trading as high as $1.24 at last check today. Cabaletta Bio is trading up about 17.5% on the day Wednesday. This purchase marks the first one filed by Marda in the past year. And at Owens & Minor, there was insider buying on Monday, by Director Robert J. Henkel who bought 1,000 shares at a cost of $15.68 each, for a total investment of $15,680. Before this latest buy, Henkel made one other purchase in the past twelve months, buying $31,760 shares for a cost of $31.76 a piece. Owens & Minor, is trading down about 0.1% on the day Wednesday. Henkel was up about 7.5% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with OMI trading as high as $16.85 at last check today.

JPMorgan And 2 Other Stocks Insiders Are Selling (Benzinga)
JPMorgan Chase: The Trade: JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) CEO Asset & Wealth Management Mary Erdoes sold a total of 33,515 shares at an average price of $115.77. The insider received around $3.88 million from selling those shares. Cigna: The Trade: Cigna Corporation (CI) President & CEO, Evernorth Eric Palmer sold a total of 4,000 shares at an average price of $300. The insider received around $1.2 million as a result of the transaction.