Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital Crypto Fund Lost $272.7 Million in 2018 (CoinDesk)
Galaxy Digital Holdings, the crypto merchant bank founded by former hedge fund manager Michael Novogratz, lost $97 million in the fourth quarter, according to financials disclosed Monday. The net loss widened from $76.7 million in the third quarter and from about $100,000 a year earlier, according to the filing with Canadian securities regulators. (Last February, New York-based Galaxy bought a Canadian publicly traded company in a reverse takeover.) For all of 2018, its first full year of operation, the company lost $272.7 million. The majority of the red ink in 2018, $101.4 million, came from selling digital assets at a loss. Galaxy also recorded $75.5 million in paper losses on crypto it held that declined in price, $8.5 million in unrealized losses on investments in companies and $88.4 million in operating expenses.
Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son is Warren Buffett of tech, says Silicon Valley hedge funder Glen Kacher (CNBC)
Silicon Valley hedge fund founder Glen Kacher is bullish on Japan’s SoftBank and it’s in large part because of its founder and CEO, Masayoshi Son. In fact, he said the billionaire “is as close as we get to having a Warren Buffett of technology, ” said Kacher, chief investment officer of Light Street Capital, based in Palo Alto, California.
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2019 Preqin Global Hedge Fund League Tables (Preqin.com)
The 2019 Preqin Global Hedge Fund League Tables showcase the top performing hedge funds over 2018, the largest managers globally, the investors operating the biggest hedge fund portfolios and the industry’s leading service providers. Using comprehensive data from Preqin Pro, the League Tables provide a definitive ranking of the leading players in the hedge fund industry right now. Highlights of the League Tables include: Bridgewater Associates manages $162.9bn in assets under management (AUM) and remains the largest hedge fund manager in the world. Abu Dhabi Investment Authority currently allocates the largest amount of capital ($51.2bn) to hedge funds. Spartan Fund Management’s LSQ Fund was the top performing hedge fund in 2018, returning a net +99.76% for the year.
Hedge Fund Pays Highest-Ever UK Office Rent in Mayfair (Standard.co.uk)
London’s hedge-fund heartland has broken a record for the UK’s highest office rent, the Evening Standard can reveal. The Mayfair move by Asia-focused hedgie Steadview Capital will see it take space, around 3000 square feet, at 30 Berkeley Square for its new London base, also the home of the famous Phillips auction house. The firm, which was founded by former Morgan Stanley analyst Ravi Mehta, is believed to have agreed to pay £250 per square foot. That is well above what is thought to be the most recent UK high: the £190 per square foot paid by fashion investment tycoon Lawrence Stroll in St James’s in 2017.
Paris-based Hedge Fund Manager Opens Seeding Programme for Niche Strategies (Opalesque)
Melanion Capital, an independent investment manager based in Paris, is launching a seeding programme that can house two to three early-stage managers who run a hedge fund or a managed account. The programme will run for two years, with tickets of up to $10m. The managers at Melanion know what new managers go through from their own experience seven years ago, when they first launched their dividend futures fund, and from a first seeding experience they had two years ago.
Asia Hedge Fund Firm Offers to Insure First 10% of Losses (Bloomberg)
A new entrant to Asia’s hedge fund market is offering to insure investors against the first 10 percent of their losses. Clients putting money into Infini Capital Management Ltd.’s multi-strategy hedge fund may choose to pay a higher performance fee in exchange for the insurance, according to Michael Friedlander, the Hong Kong-based firm’s chief operating officer. CEO Tony Chin is providing the protection, along with other investors in Infini’s founder share class.
Over Three-Quarters of Hedge Funds Saw Positive Returns in Q1 (HedgeWeek.com)
Hedge fund managers ended March 2019 up 0.77 per cent on an equal-weighted basis, and 0.45 per cent on an asset-weighted basis. Roughly 78.0 per cent of the hedge fund managers tracked by Eurekahedge recorded positive returns over the first quarter of the year. Fund managers focusing on Asia topped the chart with their 5.66 per cent year-to-date returns. Across strategies, long/short equities mandate outperformed their peers in the first quarter.
Mystery Anadarko Investors Accused of Insider Trading by SEC (Bloomberg)
(Bloomberg) — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission obtained an asset freeze tied to shares in Anadarko Petroleum Corp. after one or more unknown investors allegedly made illegal trades ahead of Chevron Corp.’s takeover bid earlier this month. The mystery traders bought Anadarko options from Feb. 8 to April 1, before the company’s shares jumped 32 percent on news of Chevron’s offer, according to a Monday order from Judge Gregory H. Woods. Two days after Chevron sent a letter to Anadarko in February about a takeover, the mystery traders started buying out-of-the-money call options eventually making $2.5 million from the illicit trading, the SEC said.
Archer-Daniels Midland Co (ADM) President & CEO Juan R Luciano Bought $1 Million of Shares (GuruFocus)
President & CEO of Archer-Daniels Midland Co (NYSE:ADM) Juan R Luciano bought 23,657 shares of ADM on 04/29/2019 at an average price of $42.3 a share. The total cost of this purchase was $1 million. Archer-Daniels Midland Co is a major processor of oilseeds, corn, wheat, and other agricultural commodities. The company’s end products include vegetable oil and meal, corn sweeteners, flour, feed ingredients, and ethanol. Archer-Daniels Midland Co has a market cap of $24.12 billion; its shares were traded at around $43.07 with a P/E ratio of 13.49 and P/S ratio of 0.38. The dividend yield of Archer-Daniels Midland Co stocks is 3.14%.
A New Sun Pharma Policy on Insider Trading Raises Questions of Double Standards (StatNews.com)
Earlier this month, a senior executive at Sun Pharmaceuticals (SUNPHARMA), one of the world’s largest purveyors of generic drugs, and his wife settled insider trading allegations brought by Indian regulators. The case stemmed from an episode five years ago, when Abhay Gandhi traded in Ranbaxy Laboratories stock soon after Sun Pharma agreed to buy the company from another drug maker. Despite the infraction, Gandhi remains with the company as both head of its North American operations and as a director of Taro Pharmaceuticals, in which Sun Pharma owns a controlling stake. Meanwhile, a just few days after he and his wife agreed to pay $100,000 to settle the case, Sun Pharma sent an email to employees about a new policy to make it easier for whistleblowers to convey information about insider trading.
Former S&P Analyst Convicted in Insider Trading Case (InvestmentExecutive.com)
A former analyst with the New York City office credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s has been convicted on securities fraud charges for passing along inside information about a pending merger announcement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Southern District of New York announced Friday. Sebastian Pinto-Thomaz, 32, was convicted of two counts of securities fraud and two counts of conspiracy. According to U.S. authorities, Pinto-Thomaz received inside information about Sherwin-Williams Co.’s planned acquisition of Valspar Corp. in 2016, as part of his work on the transaction for S&P.
Monday 4/29 Insider Buying Report: IBTX, ORIT (Nasdaq.com)
On Thursday, Independent Bank Group (IBTX)’s CLO, Brian E. Hobart, made a $100,061 buy of IBTX, purchasing 1,790 shares at a cost of $55.90 each. Independent Bank Group is trading up about 0.9% on the day Monday. Before this latest buy, Hobart bought IBTX at 4 other times during the past year, for a total cost of $499,574 at an average of $52.75 per share. And at Oritani Financial Corp (ORIT), there was insider buying on Friday, by Director Judith Schumacher-Tilton who bought 5,000 shares for a cost of $17.03 each, for a total investment of $85,169. Before this latest buy, Schumacher-Tilton purchased ORIT at 3 other times during the past twelve months, for a total investment of $289,574 at an average of $16.09 per share. Oritani Financial Corp is trading up about 1.8% on the day Monday. So far Schumacher-Tilton is in the green, up about 3.1% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $17.57.
Iliad’s Executive Lombardini Fined EUR 600,000 for Insider Trading (TelecomPaper.com)
The French financial market authority (AMF) has inflicted fines for insider trading to telecom group Iliad and its chairman Maxime Lombardini, following an investigation linked to the company’s attempted takeover of T-Mobile USA in 2014. Lombardini has been ordered to pay EUR 600,000 for misconduct committed when he was CEO of Iliad. In March, the regulator had recommended a EUR 1 million fine for the executive, based on accusations that he sold shares in the company just a few weeks before Iliad’s bid for a majority stake in T-Mobile USA. The verdict, which can be subject to appeal, also fines the telecom group EUR 100,000 for delaying a statement to the market by around a week regarding its interest in T-Mobile US.
The EVP, COO of Meritage Corp (NYSE: MTH) is Selling Shares (AnalystRatings)
Today, the EVP, COO of Meritage Corp (MTH), Phillippe Lord, sold shares of MTH for $152.3K. Following Phillippe Lord’s last MTH Sell transaction on March 08, 2019, the stock climbed by 6.9%. In addition to Phillippe Lord, one other MTH executive reported Sell trades in the last month.
Insider Buys Of The Week: Crown Castle, Kinder Morgan, Morgan Stanley (Benzinga)
Here’s a look at a few notable insider purchases reported in the past week. Crown Castle: A Crown Castle International Corp (CCI) 0.14% director last week acquired more than 18,300 shares of this shared communications infrastructure company. At an average of about $123.14 per share, the transactions totaled more than $2.25 million. Note that 9,800 of those shares were purchased via trust for the benefit of family members.
