Hedge Fund Marshall Wace Pockets $11 million off Cyberpunk Game Debacle (Financial News)
Marshall Wace piled into a short bet in CD Projekt, the developer of the Cyberpunk 2077 video game that flopped when it debuted earlier this month. The London-based hedge fund built a short position representing about 0.51% of the Warsaw developer’s shares as of 11 December, when the stock was hovering at about 320.5 zloty, per a filing analysed by short-selling research firm Breakout Point. That bet, based on the stock’s intraday low on 18 December, would currently be valued at about 38.75m zloty, or about $10.7m.
Taconic Launches Another Drawdown Fund (Institutional Investor)
The event-driven firm has gotten about $1 billion in commitments for two new private-equity-style funds this year. Taconic Capital Advisors has launched its second credit-focused, private-equity-style fund of the year.The hedge fund firm earlier this month received $454 million in commitments for the Taconic European Credit Dislocation Fund III, according to a regulatory filing and a person familiar with the launch.
Hedge Fund Founders Face OSC Charges (Investment Executive)
The operators of a Toronto-based hedge fund, Yonge Street Capital LLC (YSC), are facing quasi-criminal charges from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC). The regulator has brought charges against three men alleging that money raised by the hedge fund they established was diverted for other purposes and thereby harmed investors.
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Hedge Funds Finally Nose Past the S&P 500 (AI-CIO.com)
Hedge funds are finally edging past the S&P 500, a welcome plus for an asset class that has taken heat for underperforming in recent years amid the bull market. The hedge fund composite had a very good November and ended up gaining 13.27% for 2020, versus 12.1% for the benchmark stock index, according to Preqin research. What’s more, equity strategies, the class’ largest, did even better, up 14.49% for the year. Poorer showings in the past have sparked criticism because hedge funds’ relatively high fees didn’t deliver what a low-cost index fund did. Redemptions and fund closings have been rife, with even celebrated hedge operator John Paulson calling it quits in July.
Hedge Fund Sharks Are Heading for Bitcoin Whale Waters (Decrypt.co)
In brief: High risk hedge fund managers are heading for Bitcoin. The asset’s high volatility is particularly attractive to hedge funds. But quant hedge funds can bring systemic risk into Bitcoin’s fragile ecosystem. It was a bonanza of a day for crypto markets. While the surge that took Bitcoin and the broader markets into the stratosphere happened yesterday, the gains were all sustained.
