Elizabeth Warren Says Sears Workers Suffered While Leadership Self-Dealed (Bloomberg)
Eddie Lampert, welcome to the 2020 campaign. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a possible Democratic presidential candidate, slammed Lampert in a letter dated Wednesday, citing the “inherent conflicts of interest’’ in the hedge fund manager’s takeover of bankrupt Sears Holdings Corp.
Hedge-Fund Rivals Fortress and Och-Ziff have Locked Horns in an Ugly Legal Battle Involving an Iconic Manhattan Property — and $1 billion is at Stake (Business Insider)
Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, an iconic New York property and the largest apartment complex in Manhattan, is at the center of dueling lawsuits involving hedge funds Fortress Investment Group and Och-Ziff Capital Management. The lawsuits are complex, but at stake is the fate of some $1 billion in fees stemming from the management of the StuyTown property and its commercial debt following its default in 2010 and eventual sale in 2015 to Blackstone Group for $5.3 billion.
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Ress Achieves Record Performance in 2018 (HedgeNordic.com)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – The beauty of hedge funds is that no asset class or anything investible is out of reach. Ress Life Investments, for instance, invests in the secondary market for U.S. life insurance policies aiming to provide returns uncorrelated to stock and bond markets or other asset classes. The fund managed by Stockholm-based alternative investment fund manager Resscapital AB, achieved its best annual gain last year since launching in April 2011, returning 9.9 percent in a year when most hedge funds struggled to avoid losses.
UPDATE 1-Elliott Ups Telecom Italia Stake as Shareholder Battle Looms (CNBC)
MILAN, Jan 31 (Reuters) – U.S. hedge fund Elliott Management has raised its stake in Telecom Italia (TIM) to 9.4 percent, a SEC filing showed on Thursday, escalating a power battle over the Italian phone group with top shareholder Vivendi. TIM has been caught up since early last year in a tug-of-war between French media group Vivendi and Elliott over how to revive Italy’s biggest telephone group, an underperforming business saddled with 25 billion euros of debt.
Where Some Of The World’s Top Hedge Funds Will Invest In 2019 (FA-Mag.com)
Macro managers, who have struggled for much of the last decade, are once again expecting a winning year. This time, they might be right. The main reason for optimism is the increased volatility in markets that began in 2018 with rising interest rates in the U.S., trade wars with China and populist politics in Italy. The turbulence helped several old macro hands including Paul Tudor Jones and Alan Howard profit after posting losses or sub-par gains.
Perella Weinberg Partners Capital Management LP Invests $662,000 in Edison International (EIX) Stock (FairFieldCurrent.com)
Perella Weinberg Partners Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in Edison International (NYSE:EIX) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 11,659 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $662,000. A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of EIX. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Edison International by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter.
Somebody Ripped Off Investors At This Hedge Fund (DealBreaker)
In 2009, Niket Jain and Joseph Krigsfeld set up a hedge fund called Aberon Capital Management. Here’s what he says happened next: Jain paints himself as a victim of a crooked partner who “appeared to have all the trappings of a well-connected Russian Oligarch” and convinced him to form the fund in 2009…. “As a result of Krigsfeld’s trades, the Aberon Funds suffered substantial losses during a time period when the markets were going gangbusters,” the suit says. “By October 2012, under Krigsfeld’s control, the Aberon Funds lost over $29 million and Aberon’s [assets under management] fell to less than $500,000.”
Black Hat Hackers, White Collar Criminals Snuggle Up to Operate Insider Trading Schemes (ZDNet)
Black hat hackers and white collar workers with a dubious moral code are teaming up in schemes designed to acquire valuable corporate data to sell in underground marketplaces. It was earlier this month when the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged a Ukrainian national with hacking the agency in order to steal private corporate data from its EDGAR system and pass this valuable information on to other parties who profited by way of insider trading.
Thursday 1/31 Insider Buying Report: HTBK, LOB (Nasdaq.com)
As the saying goes, there are many possible reasons for an insider to sell a stock, but only one reason to buy – they expect to make money. So let’s look at two noteworthy recent insider buys. On Tuesday, Heritage Commerce’s Director, Jack W. Conner, made a $140,636 purchase of HTBK, buying 10,500 shares at a cost of $13.39 a piece. Investors are able to pick up HTBK at a price even lower than Conner did, with shares trading as low as $12.97 at last check today which is 3.2% below Conner’s purchase price.
Genomic Health, Inc. (GHDX)’s Stock Insider Trade – Baker Bros. Advisors Lp Sold 46,477 Shares; RECALL STUDIOS (BTOP) Sellers Increased By 324.49% Their Shorts (The FinReviewer)
RECALL STUDIOS INC (OTCMKTS:BTOP) had an increase of 324.49% in short interest. BTOP’s SI was 20,800 shares in January as released by FINRA. Its up 324.49% from 4,900 shares previously.
