Investor Presses Aviva to Cut Costs and Return £5bn to Shareholders (The Guardian)
Europe’s largest activist fund has built a 5% stake in the London listed insurance company Aviva as its chief executive, Amanda Blanc, became the second female FTSE 100 boss to have her strategy questioned by an activist investor. Cevian Capital, a Swedish investment firm with $16bn under management, said Aviva, Britain’s biggest general insurer, should return £5bn of excess capital next year after it completes the sale of a collection of non-core divisions.
Duke Energy Calls Hedge Fund Proposal to Split Its Business ‘Illogical’ (GreenvilleOnline.com)
Duke Energy says a proposal to break up its business into three regional operations would increase costs and put pressure on utility rates. The Charlotte, N.C.-based utility company said it will review Elliott Investment Management‘s proposal but it has rejected other offers the Florida-based hedge fund has made since last summer, according to a Duke Energy press release. The proposal was publicized in a letter in May.
Breaking: Marc Lasry-backed BlockTower Capital Acquires Crypto Hedge Fund Gamma Point (Coingape.com)
Crypto hedge fund BlockTower Capital backed by billionaire hedge-fund manager Marc Lasry recently announced the acquisition of its market rival Gamma Point Capital. Although the terms of the deal aren’t disclosed, the acquisition will make Gamma’s fund part of BlockTower’s family of funds. Besides, its co-founders will also join BlockTower’s team of hedge fund managers in Miami, said Matt Goetz, BlockTower’s chief executive officer.
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Hedge Funds Book Largest Gains Since 1996 on Back of US Reopening Boom (Financial News)
Hedge funds are on an eight-month winning streak. Hedge funds have delivered their strongest year-to-date performance since 1996 in the first five months of the year amid investor optimism about the US economy reopening. Hedge funds boosted performance in May for the eighth consecutive month, according to data from the sector’s research firm HFR. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index gained.
These Three Hedge Funds Are Killing It This Year (Institutional Investor)
A trio of funds have achieved returns through May that are three or four times higher than the market average. At least three of the hottest hedge fund firms this year continued to outperform in May.The funds are now beating the S&P 500 index by three or four times. For example, Senvest Management’s Senvest Master Fund rose more than 4 percent in May, extending its gain for the year to 80.78…
Relativity Space Raises $650 mln for Bigger 3D-Printed Rocket (Reuters)
Venture-backed startup Relativity Space, which aims to build the world’s first fleet of 3D-printed rockets, said on Tuesday it has raised $650 million from a raft of new investors including BlackRock, hedge fund Soroban Capital, and the actor Jared Leto. Though it has yet to launch a rocket, the latest capital raise gives Relativity a market valuation of $4.2 billion, making it the second-most valuable privately-held space firm behind Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Hedge Funds Traverse Volatility and Inflation Trends with Biggest Jan-to-May Returns in 25 Years (Hedge Week)
Hedge funds are stacking up gains this year as shuttered economies continue to unlock, with the industry navigating volatility and inflation to score its best January-to-May performance in two-and-a-half decades. Hedge Fund Research’s main Fund Weighted Composite index – which tracks the investment performance of more than 1400 single-manager hedge funds across all strategy types – grew 1.7 per cent in May. That rise – which brought year-to-date returns up to the end of May to almost 10 per cent – was the eighth successive monthly gain for the index. In the trailing eight-month period, the FWC grouping surged 21.9 per cent, the third strongest such period on record.
Daniel Sundheim’s D1 Capital Partners Inks 10-Year Miami Office Lease (The Real Deal)
Daniel Sundheim’s D1 Capital Partners is the latest investment firm to plant a flag in Miami. The New York City-based hedge fund signed a 10-year, 25,000-square-foot office lease at Related Group’s new building in Coconut Grove, where the developer is now based. The building, at 2850 Tigertail Avenue, is now fully leased, according to a release.
Fitch Affirms Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd. at ‘BBB’; Outlook Stable (Fitch Ratings)
Fitch Ratings – New York – 08 Jun 2021: Fitch Ratings has affirmed Pershing Square Holdings, Ltd.’s (PSH) Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) and senior unsecured debt rating at ‘BBB’. The Rating Outlook is Stable. KEY RATING DRIVERS: The rating affirmation reflects PSH’s lack of redemption risk as a permanent capital vehicle, the strong long-term performance track record of Pershing Square Capital Management, L.P. (PSCM), moderate leverage, a highly liquid investment portfolio, and alignment of interests between management and PSH via management’s ownership of PSH common stock.
Crain’s Daily Gist Podcast: Hedge Fund’s Move to Cut Costs at Tribune May Backfire (Chicago Business)
Reporter Ally Marotti joins host Amy Guth to discuss how Alden Global Capital‘s plan to slash newsroom staff will make it more difficult to hold on to readers. Tribune Publishing’s new owner will likely try to turn a profit by slashing newsroom staff. Reporter Ally Marotti joins host Amy Guth to discuss how further cost-cutting will make it difficult for the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers to hold on to readers.
See Why Abu Dhabi’s Big Sovereign Wealth Fund Wants an AI Group for Investing (SWFInstitute.com)
As sovereign investors rapidly embrace data as the new oil, artificial intelligence (AI) can be perceived as the refineries. SWFI reported earlier that both the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Singapore’s GIC Private Limited are in a race to construct cutting-edge quantitative investment operations. Sovereign funds have been allocating to quant hedge funds like Citadel, Point72 Management, D.E. Shaw, Two Sigma Investments, and others for quite some time, and believe they can replicate those strategies internally, saving mounds of cash on exorbitant fees.
Tuesday 6/8 Insider Buying Report: WSC, CYCN (Nasdaq.com)
On Friday, WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings’s Director, Mark S. Bartlett, made a $700,720 purchase of WSC, buying 25,000 shares at a cost of $28.03 a piece. So far Bartlett is in the green, up about 4.9% on their buy based on today’s trading high of $29.41. WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings is trading up about 0.4% on the day Tuesday. This purchase marks the first one filed by Bartlett in the past year. And on Thursday, Director Terrance McGuire bought $299,997 worth of Cyclerion Therapeutics, buying 96,153 shares at a cost of $3.12 each. Cyclerion Therapeutics is trading up about 16.7% on the day Tuesday. So far McGuire is in the green, up about 22.4% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $3.82.
A Director at Insulet (NASDAQ: PODD) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, a Director at Insulet (PODD), Sally Crawford, sold shares of PODD for $2.69M. Following Sally Crawford’s last PODD Sell transaction on January 17, 2014, the stock climbed by 231.6%. This is Crawford’s first transaction since reporting a Sell transaction on HOLX back in May 2020.
Visa Inc (V) EVP, CHIEF LEGAL & ADMIN OFFIC Tullier Kelly Mahon Sold $2.9 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
EVP, CHIEF LEGAL & ADMIN OFFIC of Visa Inc, Tullier Kelly Mahon, sold 12,735 shares of V on 06/02/2021 at an average price of $231.51 a share. The total sale was $2.9 million.
