Former Tory Backer John Armitage Makes Donation to Keir Starmer (The Times)
A hedge-fund manager who gave £3.1 million to the Conservatives has now made a personal donation of £12,500 to Sir Keir Starmer. The Labour leader has succeeded in securing the financial backing of John Armitage, co-founder of the hedge fund Egerton Capital. Armitage, 62, a British billionaire who recently acquired Irish citizenship, sits in joint 149th position on the Sunday Times rich list.
Sears Holdings Reaches $175M Settlement with Lampert and Company (Retail Dive)
Dive Brief: After nearly four years in bankruptcy, Sears Holdings and its one-time creditors said they have reached a settlement with its former CEO and majority owner Eddie Lampert and other investors. If approved by a federal bankruptcy judge, the settlement could resolve years-long litigation filed against Lampert and other defendants over allegations of asset stripping and “rank” self-dealing in the years leading to Sears Holdings’ 2018 bankruptcy.
SEC Investigating Melvin Capital Management (The Wall Street Journal)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is looking into Melvin Capital Management risk controls and investor disclosure after the hedge fund was crippled by the meme-stock rally last year, said people familiar with the matter. The regulator has contacted investors in the hedge fund in recent months as part of an investigation into what Melvin founder Gabriel Plotkin and other senior executives told them in the wake of the meme-stock rally in January 2021, and whether it misled investors when it raised money last year.
Copyright: rawpixel / 123RF Stock Photo
Top Fundraising Challenges for Hedge Funds and How to Overcome Them (Preqin)
Uncertainty lies ahead for the hedge fund asset class given the monetary policy changes and geopolitical tensions experienced in 2022 so far. These have a direct impact on allocations, with investors becoming more cautious and ultimately impacting managers’ ability to fundraise. Below, we look at the top three challenges hedge funds face in today’s fundraising market and provide key solutions to overcome them. Allocators are planning to commit less capital to hedge funds: According to Preqin Pro, 79% of investors are intending to invest less than $50mn (the smallest allocation size) of fresh capital in hedge funds over the next 12 months, compared with 74% of investors in Q1 2022.
BlackRock Launches Spot Bitcoin Private Trust for U.S. Clients (Reuters)
(Reuters) – BlackRock Inc, the world’s biggest asset manager, has launched a spot bitcoin private trust for institutional clients in the United States, according to a blog post on its website. The trust will track the performance of bitcoin, offering direct exposure to the price of the digital currency, BlackRock said.
