Month in Review – March 2022 (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – After experiencing the second-worst month since 2008 back in February, Nordic hedge funds recouped some losses after gaining 1.3 percent on average last month (89 percent reported) to end the first quarter down 2.9 percent. All strategy categories within the Nordic Hedge Index ended the month in the green, with CTAs leading the gains.
Activist Litt Ends Plans to Push for Board Seats at LXP (Reuters)
BOSTON, April 13 (Reuters) – Shareholder activist Jonathan Litt ended plans to win board seats at LXP Industrial Trust (LXP.N), the company said on Wednesday, less than a week after it suspended plans to explore strategic alternatives, including a possible sale. Litt’s investment firm Land & Buildings notified the U.S. warehouse-focused real estate investment trust in a letter on Tuesday that he had withdrawn his director nominations, the company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.
Activist Investor Blackwells Capital Reiterates Call for Peloton Sale (Hedge Week)
Activist alternative investment firm Blackwells Capital and a significant shareholder of Peloton Interactive, has published a presentation highlighting the failure of Peloton’s new CEO to galvanise shareholder support, and addressing the ‘severe and lingering governance issues facing the Company’. In the presentation, Blackwells also describes a re-imagined Peloton – a leader in a new category of “Fitness as a Service” providers – that is high growth, high margin and asset light.
L1 Capital Returns to the Top of Hedge Fund Performance (AFR.com)
Big bets on energy and commodity businesses helped L1 Capital post an 11.3 per cent return after fees for its flagship hedge fund over the March quarter, and boast it is the best-performing long-short fund in Australia since its inception in 2014. The L1 Capital Long Short Fund run by Mark Landau and Raphael Lamm said its 33.5 per cent return over the past year, versus 15 per cent for the S&P/ASX 200, also benefited from shorting overvalued tech stocks that are years away from profitability and retail businesses that suffered as COVID-19 lockdowns eased.
ARCM Hedge Fund Gains 19% After Move to Distressed Equities (Bloomberg)
Alp Ercil’s $3.5 billion Asia Research & Capital Management scored double-digit gains at its latest hedge fund last quarter, a year after pivoting toward distressed equities in base metals and energy amid the transition to cleaner fuels. ARCM’s fourth distressed asset fund returned an estimated 19% after fees in the three months ended March 31, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. An update sent to investors didn’t provide details on what drove the gain, the person said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.
Thursday 4/14 Insider Buying Report: MRSN, LYRA (Nasdaq.com)
At Mersana Therapeutics, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Tuesday, Director Andrew A. F. Hack purchased 598,086 shares of MRSN, for a cost of $4.18 each, for a total investment of $2.5M. So far Hack is in the green, up about 21.2% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $5.07. Mersana Therapeutic is trading up about 11.3% on the day Thursday. Before this latest buy, Hack bought MRSN at 2 other times during the past twelve months, for a total cost of $10.05M at an average of $5.00 per share. And also on Tuesday, Executive Chair Harlan Waksal purchased $999,997 worth of Lyra Therapeutics, purchasing 236,966 shares at a cost of $4.22 a piece. Lyra Therapeutics is trading up about 7.5% on the day Thursday. Waksal was up about 70.1% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with LYRA trading as high as $7.18 at last check today.
Ex-Analyst Sentenced To 33 Months In Prison For Insider Trading (Insurance News Net)
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that Sergei Polevikov a former quantitative analyst, was sentenced late yesterday to 33 months in prison by United States District Judge Lewis J. Liman. Polevikov pled guilty on December 15, 2021 for his role in a scheme to misappropriate confidential information about pending trades by his former employer, an investment adviser, on behalf of its investment company clients.
