Billionaire Lee Ainslie is Telling Investors that his $6 Billion Maverick Capital is ‘Poised to Take Advantage’ of the Post-GameStop-Frenzy Market (Business Insider)
While billionaire Lee Ainslie was not an immediate winner following the GameStop-fueled market volatility of last week, he told investors the aftermath of the “Reddit/WallStreetBets war” gave his $6 billion hedge fund with a lot of opportunities. There have been several examples of immediate Wall Street wins thanks to the Reddit-driven short squeeze that retail traders ran against hedge funds like Melvin Capital, Maplelane Capital, and D1 Capital, such as Senvest Management‘s $700 million gain on GameStop and Silver Lake‘s $113 million profit on AMC.
Man Group Closes Its Iberian Equity Fund on Lack of Demand (Bloomberg)
Man Group Plc is closing its Spanish and Portuguese equity fund due to poor demand, three years after its launch. The world’s largest publicly traded hedge fund has decided to close the GLG Iberian Opportunities fund due to lack of demand, a company spokesperson said in response to a query from Bloomberg. Manager Firmino Morgado and his team will remain at the firm and will continue to manage the GLG European Income Opportunities strategy and develop new thematic strategies, the spokesperson said.
Citadel Securities, Accused Of Rigging Markets, Accuses Someone Else Of Rigging Markets (Deal Breaker)
Its preemptive protestations of guileless innocence notwithstanding, the Citadel family of companies has attracted precisely the sort of attention in l’affaire GameStop it had hoped to thusly avoid: from angry Redditors and their lawyers; from unfriendly leaders in Congress; from unscrupulous attorneys general who know a thing about securities fraud themselves. But Wall Street and r/WallStreetBets, hear him out! Ken Griffin is not your oppressor but your friend!
Luis Louro / shutterstock.com
What We Learned from the Challenges of 2020 (Preqin)
2020 was one of the most extraordinary years in living memory. The outbreak of COVID-19 and the declaration of a global pandemic has affected the lives of everyone around the world. While we have witnessed the tragic consequences of the loss of life and intense hardship caused by this crisis, we have also been inspired by remarkable examples of human resilience and ingenuity, not least in the progress toward developing a reliable vaccine in record time.
Juicy Returns with Market Neutrality (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Since market-neutral funds seek to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns by zeroing out market exposure, their performance is completely dependent on manager skill – rather than any beta exposure. A duo out of Oslo – Torkel A. Aaberg and Simon Roksund Johannessen – made their energy-focused market-neutral equity fund KLP Alfa Global Energi stand out by putting their skills to good use.
Hedge Funds Risk Biden-Era End to Money-Laundering Loophole (Bloomberg)
Private-equity and hedge funds face an increased risk that the U.S. will close a longstanding money-laundering loophole for assets they manage. All it would take is the Biden administration to quickly revive a rule that was developed during Barack Obama’s term but left unused by Donald Trump. The U.S. has intensified its crackdown on dirty money in recent years, requiring banks, brokerages and mutual funds to monitor clients and report suspicious activity. But investment advisers overseeing trillions of dollars in private equity and hedge funds are exempt from such rules, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation says that’s attracted more cash from Mexican drug lords, countries under U.S. sanctions and companies with suspected Russian mob ties.
Hedge Fund Association Elects New Officers and Strengthens Global, Regional and Committee Leadership (Hedge Week)
The Hedge Fund Association (HFA), an international nonprofit trade and nonpartisan lobbying organisation, has added new HFA Officers, Regional Directors and Committee Leaders. HFA’s leaders are all elected and appointed volunteers that work on behalf of the entire alternative investment industry, including hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, real estate and wealth management firms, institutional investors, family offices and service providers.
Former Hedge Fund Manager Self-Fulfills Prison Prophecy (Deal Breaker)
This week has been filled with dark allegations and recriminations against hedge funds over conspiracies to nefariously game markets to their own ends, without any evidence to support them. So you may have missed the final chapter in the actual conspiracy to game a market by a nefarious hedge fund manager, one Dan Kamensky of Marble Ridge Capital.
Hedge-Fund Billionaire Ray Dalio Fears the GameStop Frenzy was Really about Wealth Inequality (Business Insider)
Billionaire investor Ray Dalio isn’t worried about the Reddit users who collectively drove GameStop’s stock price to stratospheric levels last week, or the short-selling hedge funds that were squeezed as a result. His real fear is that the GameStop saga was a symptom of broader inequality and division in America, he said on the Axios Re:Cap podcast this week. He pointed out gaps in wealth, values, and political views in the US are at their widest in more than 120 years.
COVID Nightmares for Women in Hedge Funds (eFinancialCareers.com)
Working in an investment role for a hedge fund during a time of family strife is a challenge irrespective of your gender. – In 2013, Paul Tudor Jones controversially claimed that hedge fund managers’ returns fall by 10-20% when they’re going through a divorce because they lose focus during the “emotional strife.” Now it seems that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a similar effect – but only for portfolio managers who are mothers.
Friday 2/5 Insider Buying Report: BSTZ, CFR (Nasdaq.com)
At Blackrock Science and Technology Trust II, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Tuesday, Tony Kim bought 13,200 shares of BSTZ, at a cost of $37.55 each, for a total investment of $495,694. So far Kim is in the green, up about 4.9% on their buy based on today’s trading high of $39.40. Blackrock Science and Technology Trust II is trading up about 0.5% on the day Friday. Before this latest buy, Kim bought BSTZ on 3 other occasions during the past year, for a total cost of $592,667 at an average of $15.05 per share. And at Cullen/Frost Bankers, there was insider buying on Wednesday, by Director Chris Avery who bought 3,500 shares for a cost of $92.71 each, for a total investment of $324,485. Before this latest buy, Avery bought CFR at 3 other times during the past year, for a total cost of $1.43M at an average of $86.64 per share. Cullen/Frost Bankers is trading up about 0.5% on the day Friday. So far Avery is in the green, up about 5.4% on their buy based on today’s trading high of $97.67.
The CFO & SVP of 1-800 Flowers (NASDAQ: FLWS) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the CFO & SVP of 1-800 Flowers (FLWS), William E. Shea, sold shares of FLWS for $1.52M. Following William E. Shea’s last FLWS Sell transaction on June 13, 2018, the stock climbed by 17.5%. In addition to William E. Shea, one other FLWS executive reported Sell trades in the last month. Based on 1-800 Flowers’ latest earnings report for the quarter ending December 31, the company posted quarterly revenue of $877 million and quarterly net profit of $114 million.
Teladoc Health Inc (TDOC) CEO Jason N Gorevic Sold $8.1 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO of Teladoc Health Inc, Jason N Gorevic, sold 30,000 shares of TDOC on 02/02/2021 at an average price of $271.06 a share. The total sale was $8.1 million. Teladoc Inc provides telehealth platform, delivering on-demand healthcare anytime, anywhere, via mobile devices, the internet, video and phone. Teladoc Health Inc has a market cap of $40.73 billion; its shares were traded at around $280.975000 with and P/S ratio of 25.02. Teladoc Health Inc had annual average EBITDA growth of 12.20% over the past five years. GuruFocus has detected 3 severe warning signs with Teladoc Health Inc.
