Odey’s Hedge Fund Soars 145% on Bets Against UK Bonds – Sources (Reuters)
LONDON, Sept 22 (Reuters) – Crispin Odey, one of Britain’s best-known hedge fund managers, has made a killing this year by wagering against British government bonds, with his firm’s main fund up 145% in 2022 after shorting long-dated UK debt, sources said on Thursday. Betting against the price of, or shorting, government bonds has been one of the trades of the year as soaring inflation forces central banks to hike interest rates more aggressively than was predicted even a few months ago, and investors dump bonds.
Activist Elliott Management Is Going After PayPal, Pinterest, and Other Stocks. Investors Should Be Wary (Barron’s)
For much of this year, PayPal Holdings stock couldn’t find a floor. Not only did the payments company lose its pandemic luster, but it also lost credibility on Wall Street after cutting ambitious growth targets in February. Amid the selloff, PayPal’s chief financial officer took a job at Walmart. Investors took off, too, sending the stock down 60% through mid-July. But one investor, in particular, saw value and came equipped to orchestrate a turnaround in the stock: Elliott Management.
Ray Dalio Says His Hedge Fund Bridgewater Associates is Up Around 25% this Year. He Shares 2 Ways Investors Should Approach a Market He Says is Due to Drop Another 20% — and an Area He’s Bullish on Long-Term (Business Insider)
Ray Dalio says the pain that stocks have faced this year likely isn’t over yet. As the Federal Reserve continues to raise interest rates — they raised rates by 75 basis points for their third meeting in a row on Wednesday — investors can continue to expect increased competition for stocks in the form of higher yields, and damage to corporate earnings, the Bridgewater Associates founder said on Wednesday morning.
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Saudi Wealth Fund Head Likens Dalio Market Views to Movie Critic (Bloomberg)
Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, said he’s figured out why billionaire investor Ray Dalio was bearish on financial markets years ago while he and others remained optimistic. Dalio “is like a movie critic, a theater critic,” Al-Rumayyan, who runs the Riyadh-based Public Investment Fund, said at the FII Institute’s Priority summit in New York on Thursday. “Before going there, he knows it’s going to be a bad story, bad production, bad cast. And he knows before he sits there, but he has to sit there to give his critique.”
RAM Launches Long-Only Vehicle (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – A new trend evident in the hedge fund industry is that of established hedge fund managers offering new “best ideas” or long-only funds. After close to 20 years of long/short equity investing, Swedish asset manager RAM Rational Asset Management is launching a long-only equity fund called RAM Long Active Value. The new launch will complement the asset manager’s existing fund offering consisting of RAM ONE, its flagship long/short equity fund, and RAM ONE’s more recently launched UCITS version, RAM Equity Long/Short.
Hedge Fund Ancora Seeks Ouster of Kohl’s CEO, Chairman (Reuters)
Sept 22 (Reuters) – Ancora Holdings, one of the hedge funds that spearheaded a board shake-up last year at Kohl’s Corp, is now pushing for the removal of the U.S. retailer’s chief executive and board chairman, according to a letter sent to the company on Thursday. The move marks the beginning of a new round of shareholder unrest for Kohl’s after the company explored a sale and decided in July to remain independent, leading to a plunge in its shares and disappointing investors who had pushed for a deal.
TA Associates Wraps Up its Fifth Debt Fund at Over $1.1bn (Opalesque.com)
TA Associates, a global growth private equity firm, has closed its fifth debt fund at more than $1.1 billion, beating its $600 million target. TA Debt Fund V is significantly larger than its predecessor fund, TA Subordinated Debt Fund IV, which closed at $542 million, said a media release from the early modern-era PE firm in the United States, which invests in technology, healthcare, financial services, consumer, and business services. TA has raised $48.6 billion in the capital since its founding in 1968.
Despite Typical Advice To Diversify, Concentrated Funds Of Funds Outperform Diversified (Forbes)
The first half of 2022 was not good for funds of hedge funds, especially those with highly diversified portfolios holding more than 50 positions. Additionally, there was a wide dispersion in performance among funds of funds, with the top 10th percentile returning 10.81% and the bottom 10th returning -23.09% for the first six months. Funds of hedge funds in the red for the first six months of 2022: Amid the wide dispersion in fund returns, only 35% overall of the funds of funds administered by Citco generated positive returns for the first six months of 2022.
Acuiti Launches Systematic Hedge Fund Expert Network (Markets Media)
Acuiti launches Systematic Hedge Fund Expert Network London 22 September, 2022: Acuiti today launches its Systematic Hedge Fund Expert Network, the latest in its series of derivatives-focused networks of senior market executives. Acuiti Expert Networks provide a virtual forum through which senior executives in a given market can gauge sentiment and benchmark approaches to common challenges.
Thursday 9/22 Insider Buying Report: NXDT, VOXX (Nasdaq.com)
At Nexpoint Diversified Real Estate Trust, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Wednesday, Director Arthur B. Laffer bought 6,762 shares of NXDT, for a cost of $14.79 each, for a total investment of $100,010. Bargain hunters can grab NXDT at a price even lower than Laffer did, with the stock changing hands as low as $14.56 in trading on Thursday — that’s 1.6% below Laffer’s purchase price. Nexpoint Diversified Real Estate Trust is trading off about 0.6% on the day Thursday. And at Voxx International, there was insider buying on Monday, by CEO Patrick M. Lavelle who purchased 12,100 shares for a cost of $7.37 each, for a total investment of $89,159.
$10 Million Bet On NortonLifeLock? 4 Stocks Insiders Are Buying (Benzinga)
The Trade: NortonLifeLock Inc. (NLOK) President Ondrej Vleck acquired a total of 456,475 shares an average price of $21.91. To acquire these shares, it cost around $10 million. CNA Financial: The Trade: CNA Financial Corporation (CNA) 10% owner Loews Corp acquired a total of 204,697 shares at an average price of $38.88. To acquire these shares, it cost around $7.96 million.
