Quant Hedge Fund Icon AQR Cuts Back as Investors Exit (AI-CIO.com)
Once hailed as the magicians of finance, quantitative hedge funds haven’t shown much dazzle lately. One of the most celebrated and a pioneer in this math-intense field, AQR Capital Management, is cutting back resources as it confronts investment outflow. The firm, led by Cliff Asness, is axing a key bond operation, parting with five partners, and paring other activities, the Financial Times reported. The shuttered bond strategy is focused on long-term obligations; the unit started in 2014, investment site FundFire wrote.
New York Billionaire Seeks Permission to Build ‘Temple for a Titan’ Penthouse on Top of Historic Building (Independent.co.uk)
Billionaire hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman is seeking permission from New York’s Landmarks Preservation Commission to build a “flying saucer” penthouse on top of a historic building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Mr Ackman has won the backing of Manhattan’s Community Board 7 on the Upper West Side for the plan to build — what he likes to call — a temple for a titan, on top of the 120-year-old building that overlooks the Central Park.
Sundheim’s D1, Viking Bet Big on Peloton Ahead of Plunge (Bloomberg)
(Bloomberg) — Dan Sundheim’s D1 Capital and Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global Investors both significantly boosted their holdings in exercise-equipment maker Peloton Interactive Inc. in the third quarter, ahead of this month’s 48% plunge. D1 padded its stake in New York-based Peloton by almost 75%, making it the firm’s sixth-biggest shareholder. Viking increased its position by more than 10-fold, becoming the seven-largest investor. Each of the hedge funds held stakes worth about $500 million at the end of September, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
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Melvin Capital’s Comeback Plan (Institutional Investor)
Gabe Plotkin made several moves in the third quarter in a bid to reverse his fund’s still considerable losses. Melvin Capital Management has significantly shaken up its portfolio in recent months.Five stocks cracked the long-short fund’s top-six holdings since the third quarter, after the hedge fund firm doubled or more than doubled their stakes. At the same time, Melvin fully unloaded what was its third-largest long at the end…
Elon Musk Slams Tesla Critic Michael Burry as a ‘Broken Clock’ — as the ‘The Big Short’ Investor Deletes Twitter Again (Business Insider)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has hit back at “The Big Short” investor Michael Burry, labelling him a “broken clock.” It came after Burry, who’s famous for predicting the 2008 financial crisis, slammed Musk and Tesla, and said there was “more speculation than the 1920s” in the current stock market. Burry has now deleted his Twitter account, but not for the first time. Recently, he has followed a pattern of activating his profile to tweet dire warnings about financial markets, before shutting it down again.
Alternatives in the Middle East: Transforming Economies (Preqin)
With more and more new fund managers establishing in the Middle East, the region’s alternatives industry is fast catching up with the more developed industry hubs worldwide. Venture capital is enjoying a particular boom in appetite, with 33 venture firms setting up shop between 2018 and 2020. While these managers may not yet command the scale of funds raised by larger, more established managers, competition among GPs in the Middle East is rising. This is a good sign for the future development of alternatives more generally.
Engine No. 1 Partner Leaves Hedge Fund After Successful Challenge of Exxon (Reuters)
BOSTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) – Engine No. 1‘s head of active engagement Charlie Penner, who conceived and quarterbacked this year’s successful board challenge at Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM.N) that stunned the corporate world, is leaving the sustainability-focused hedge fund.
New York Fund Manager and His Company Charged with Securities Fraud (HedgeCo.net)
(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Joshua Burrell and his firm, Activated Capital, LLC, with securities fraud in connection with Opportunity Zone investments. The SEC’s complaint alleges that from at least February 2019 through February 2021, Burrell, through Activated, raised approximately $6.3 million from investors to invest in Opportunity Zones, a community development program established by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts of 2017. The offering materials represented that the properties would be purchased in the name of the funds in which investors had invested and that distributions to investors would come from income from the real estate.
Tim Draper Says His New Fund Meets ESG Criteria. Don’t Ask Him for Proof. (The Wall Street Journal)
Tim Draper’s venture firm has raised a $230 million fund, Draper Associates VI, to back startups that the billionaire investor thinks will have a positive impact on the world. “We’ve been doing ESG forever,” said Mr. Draper, founder and managing partner of Draper Associates, referring to environmental, social and governance investing. “We want our LPs to know that has been going on.”
Monday 11/15 Insider Buying Report: COMM, BHVN (Nasdaq.com)
On Wednesday, CommScope Holding’s Director, Claudius E. Watts IV, made a $636,300 buy of COMM, purchasing 65,000 shares at a cost of $9.79 a piece. So far Watts IV is in the green, up about 5.7% on their buy based on today’s trading high of $10.35. CommScope Holding is trading down about 1.3% on the day Monday. Before this latest buy, Watts IV made one other purchase in the past twelve months, buying $991,913 shares at a cost of $15.26 each. And at Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding, there was insider buying on Wednesday, by John W. Childs who bought 5,000 shares at a cost of $122.87 each, for a trade totaling $614,342. Before this latest buy, Childs bought BHVN on 3 other occasions during the past twelve months, for a total investment of $2.3M at an average of $81.65 per share. Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding is trading down about 2.8% on the day Monday.
Elon Musk Sells Another $950M Worth Of Tesla Stock On Monday (Benzinga)
Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk sold $946.6 million worth of the automaker’s shares on Monday as per filings made with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. What Happened: The filings, made Monday, indicate that Musk exercised options to purchase 2.1 million stock options at $6.24 each and sold 934,091 shares. Tesla shares closed at $1,013.39 on Monday, which would value the sale at $946.6 million.
The CHRO of Zurn Water Solutions (NYSE: ZWS) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the CHRO of Zurn Water Solutions (ZWS), George Powers, sold shares of ZWS for $2.06M. In addition to George Powers, 9 other ZWS executives reported Sell trades in the last month. Following George Powers’ last ZWS Sell transaction on November 02, 2021, the stock climbed by 1.7%.
