Jana Partners Cuts Macy’s Stake After Pushing Retailer on E-commerce (Reuters)
BOSTON, Feb 14 (Reuters) – Jana Partners cut its holding in Macy’s Inc (M.N) by 84% in the last months of 2021 not long after the activist investment firm prodded the retailer to consider alternatives for its online unit, according to a regulatory filing.
Long-Time Whale Rock Partner Exits for Hedge Fund Giant Citadel to Build Out Stock-Picking Unit’s Tech and Media Team (Business Insider)
The stock-picking unit of billionaire Ken Griffin‘s multi-manager Citadel has poached long-time Whale Rock partner Dan Ramirez from Alex Sacerdote‘s shop. Ramirez will run a team for Ashler Capital investing in technology, media, and telecoms and is set to hire a team of analysts and associates to work under him.
Coatue Seeks Capital for a New Fund (Institutional Investor)
This is the fifth new fund from the Tiger Cub is less than two years. Coatue Management is raising money for a new niche hedge fund. According to a regulatory filing, the Tiger Cub headed by Philippe Laffont is seeking capital for Coatue Climate Tech Fund II. The filing said that the first sale has yet to occur.
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Ready for Next Cycle in Shipping and Energy (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Warren Buffett and Sir John Templeton are a small handful of successful investors who have deliberately decided to manage capital away from the noise surrounding the world’s leading financial centers. Similarly, Norwegian Cato Brahde has successfully been running the hedge fund he co-founded, the Oceanic Hedge Fund, back in 2002 from the remote Isle of Man in the Irish Sea, a remoteness that gives him a different perspective.
AQR Sees Strong Start to 2022 (Hedge Week)
AQR Capital Management‘s longest-running multi-strategy has started 2022 with record performance, according to a report by Institutional Investor. The firm’s absolute return strategy chalked up 10.4 per cent net return in the first five days of January and closed the month having record a total return of 15.4 per cent. January’s record performance followed a total 2021 net gain of 16.8 per cent the month December 2021 ranks as one of the fund’s top four months ever.
International Commitments May Catch up Post-COVID (Preqin)
Investors kept up the pace of commitments during the pandemic, but most stayed close to home. 2022 could see a rebound in cross-regional investments. As some of us selectively return to holiday-party small talk to round out the year, we’ve had ample opportunity to speculate on what the private equity landscape will look like in 2022 and 2023. Will the private equity world and LP commitments return to a normal, steady state? Were there specific disruptions during the pandemic that will produce a disproportionate response in a post-COVID world?
Activist Investor Bluebell Calls for New Glencore Coal Structure (Bloomberg)
Activist investor Bluebell Capital Partners has asked Glencore Plc to consider a radical new structure for its coal business to turn itself from a “disliked stock” into a top pick for investors targeting sustainability. Glencore should create a Coal NewCo, splitting its capital into A and B shares, according to a letter sent by Bluebell to the company, a copy of which was reviewed by Bloomberg.
Balyasny Boss Predicts Increase in Hedge Fund Investments in Private Companies (Hedge Week)
An increasing number of hedge funds will begin investing in private companies, despite fears of overheating in the crowded market, according to Dimitry Balyasny, the hedge of US hedge fund Balyasny Asset Management, according to a report in the Financial Times. Balyasny, goes so far as to suggest that all large hedge funds will eventually invest in start-ups because the divisions between private and public markets are becoming irrelevant.
Cathie Wood’s ARK Stays the Course, Betting Big on Innovation (The Wall Street Journal)
Cathie Wood’s ARK Investment Management LLC is snapping up more shares of largely unprofitable companies, doubling down on a bet that many traders and investors expect to be tested this year by rising interest rates. Over the past two weeks, Ms. Wood’s flagship ARK Innovation exchange-traded fund has bought more than $400 million of high-growth stocks, including Roblox Corp., Block Inc. and Robinhood Markets Inc. That’s according to the firm’s daily trading logs and stock-pricing data as of Friday.
Opalesque Roundup: Hedge Funds Ended a Volatile January with a Negative Return: Hedge Fund News, Week 06 (Opalesque)
In the week ending February 11th 2022, eVestment January 2022 hedge fund performance data revealed that inflation, market volatility and geopolitical tensions in Europe appear to have taken a toll on the global hedge fund business in January, with aggregate return for the business coming in at -1.89% for the first month of the year. The hedge fund industry ended 2021 at +9.87% and January’s return is the lowest start to the year since 2016, according to eVestment Global Head of Research Peter Laurelli.
Hedge Funds Try to Move to Right Side of Historic US Bond Market Move (NewsMax.com)
Hedge funds look to be on the right side of the seismic moves in Treasuries that have propelled short-dated borrowing costs higher, intensified flattening pressures across the yield curve, and ripped up the consensus 2022 U.S. interest rate outlook. Futures market data for the week through Feb. 8 showed speculators flipped to a net short position in two-year Treasuries for the first time this year and cut their net short position in the 10-year space to its smallest since October.
Monday 2/14 Insider Buying Report: LOB (Nasdaq.com)
On Thursday, Chief Financial Officer William C. Losch III bought $398,382 worth of Live Oak Bancshares, buying 6,250 shares at a cost of $63.74 a piece. Before this latest buy, Losch III made one other buy in the past twelve months, purchasing $199,768 shares at a cost of $57.08 each. Live Oak Bancshares is trading up about 4% on the day Monday. Bargain hunters can buy LOB at a price even lower than Losch III did, with the stock changing hands as low as $61.22 at last check today — that’s 4.0% under Losch III’s purchase price.
Insider Trading: February 14, 2022 (BIV.com)
Insider Ross J. Beaty, director. Company: Equinox Gold Corp. (TSX:EQX). Shares owned: 1,579,751. Trade date: January 28. Trade total: $987,000. Trade: Acquisition of 140,000 shares at a price of $7.05 per share. Insider Raymond Ashley, officer. Company: Fission Uranium Corp. (TSX:FCU). Shares owned: 817,647. Trade date: January 28, 31. Trade total: $223,500. Trade: Sale of 300,000 shares at prices from $0.72 to $0.76 per share.
ASIC Expands Insider Trading Investigation into Super (AFR)
The corporate regulator has almost doubled the size of its investigation into the superannuation sector as it examines the investment switches made by 127 retirement fund executives and considers launching four insider trading cases. At a parliamentary inquiry, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission said it had stood down a new unit established to transition new rules for proxy advisors, which were overturned in the Senate last Thursday.
