Valor, Brevan Howard Back Lightning Labs to ‘Bitcoinize the Dollar’ (Bloomberg)
Crypto technology firm Lightning Labs said it is bringing in new financing as it creates a protocol to facilitate fiat currency transfers to Bitcoin. The protocol — called Taro — aims to enable high-volume transfers instantly for fiat currencies and other assets, Lightning Labs said in a statement. Valor Equity Partners, Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP and Vlad Tenev, CEO of Robinhood Markets Inc., are among new investors in the $70 million, Series B financing round. While Valor Equity was an early backer of Tesla and SpaceX, hedge fund Brevan Howard has been ramping up its own, new crypto unit with capital and staff.
Tesla Bear Michael Burry Says Elon Musk Taking Controlling Stake In Twitter Would Be ‘Good For America’ (Benzinga)
Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) CEO Elon Musk’s buying of Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) shares has prompted a comment from his usual detractor – hedge fund manager and investor Michael Burry. What Happened: Burry said on Twitter that Musk “buying enough shares to control Twitter would be good for America. Period.”The “Big Short” fame investor in his post shared a Boston Herald editorial that criticized major news outlets’ coverage of Hunter Biden, the son of U.S. President Joe Biden.
Anti-Tech Tiger Cub Impala Is Killing It (Institutional Investor)
The firm’s natural resources fund was one of its top performers, while its flagship fund is still solidly in the black. Impala continues to roll.The anti-tech Tiger Cub’s flagship long-short hedge fund, Impala Fund, was up about 11 percent in the first quarter, according to an investor, while the Impala Resource Fund, a long-only fund, surged 27.5 percent for the quarter.
Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash
LGT Capital Partners Implements Hazeltree for Liquidity Management Infrastructure (Hedge Week)
Hazeltree, a provider of integrated treasury and liquidity management solutions for investment managers, and LGT Capital Partners have completed the initial phase of implementation of Hazeltree’s cash and liquidity management solution. This phase is focused primarily on aggregating and automating LGT Capital Partners’ cash wires activity, replacing a legacy application. It establishes the platform for further enhancing LGT Capital Partners’ fund financial management operations by aggregating, optimising and improving execution of its cash, debt and liquidity management processes.
Long-Term Capital’s Hawkins Wins Abortion Pill Stock Dispute (Bloomberg Law)
A proxy used by a private equity investor to control MedApproach LP – formed in the 1990s to commercialize the abortion pill RU-486—isn’t necessarily binding on future owners, a Delaware judge ruled Monday, handing a win to a former principal of the disgraced Long-Term Capital Management LP. Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster issued an 86-page ruling in favor of Sharon Hawkins, who acquired her stake in a MedApproach affiliate from her husband, Gregory Hawkins, when his massively overleveraged hedge fund collapsed in 1998, threatening the global financial system.
Brevan Howard Predicts Growing Threat from Inflation Spiral (Hedge Week)
Hedge fund Brevan Howard is predicting an increased threat of a wage-price spiral crisis, last seen in the 1970s, due to high inflation and tight labour markets, according to a report by Bloomberg. A similar situation arose during the “Volcker Era”, which ultimately proved extremely costly to reverse, the report credits Brevan Howard as saying in a note to shareholders of one of its listed funds.
ETC’s New Quant Strategy Returns 35% in Q1 (Opalesque)
Eckhardt Trading Company (ETC), an early pioneer of systematic trading, has recently launched a new strategy that analyses market positioning to exploit crowded and uncrowded trades. It has done very well in the first quarter. The system, developed by portfolio manager Steven Moyer, earned an allocation within ETC by passing a strict internal testing process known as “the gauntlet”. Rob Sorrentino, president of Eckhardt, has known Moyer for over seven years and they previously worked together.
Tuesday 4/5 Insider Buying Report: TFFP, GRPN (Nasdaq.com)
At TFF Pharmaceuticals, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Monday, Director Aaron G.L. Fletcher purchased 542,000 shares of TFFP, for a cost of $6.47 each, for a total investment of $3.50M. Fletcher was up about 18.8% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with TFFP trading as high as $7.68 in trading on Tuesday. TFF Pharmaceuticals is trading up about 9.6% on the day Tuesday. And on Friday, Jan Barta bought $2.37M worth of Groupon, buying 123,346 shares at a cost of $19.25 each. Groupon is trading up about 2.8% on the day Tuesday. So far Barta is in the green, up about 8.8% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $20.95.
Executives Sell More Than $262M Of 5 Stocks (Benzinga)
Regeneron Pharmaceuticals: The Trade: Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (REGN) +1.06% Director P. Roy Vagelos sold a total of 28,572 shares at an average price of $700.01. The insider received around $20 million from selling those shares. Horizon Therapeutics: The Trade: Horizon Therapeutics Public Limited Company (HZNP) +0.72% Chairman, President and CEO Timothy Walbert sold a total of 50,000 shares at an average price of $105.26. The insider received around $5.26 million from selling those shares.
SEC Obtains Final Judgment Against Hedge Fund Adviser Who Jury Found Liable for Securities Fraud (HedgeCo.net)
(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission has obtained a final judgment against a hedge fund adviser and his investment advisory firm. According to the SEC’s complaint, filed in September 2018, Gregory Lemelson and Massachusetts-based Lemelson Capital Management, LLC (“LCM”) were charged with making false statements to drive down the price of San Diego-based Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc. and profit from a short position in Ligand’s stock.
