Banking & Finance Roundup: Hedge Fund Millennium Management Inks Two South Florida Office Leases (South Florida Business Journal)
Hedge fund giant Millennium Management is doubling down on South Florida with two big leases at Class A office towers. The New York-based firm secured more than 74,000 square feet across three floors at 1111 Brickell Ave. in Miami. The company will house investment professionals and technology teams at the 30-story office building in the Brickell Financial District. WorldQuant, a quantitative investment firm spun out of Millennium in 2007, will also occupy space there. CBRE served as the exclusive agent on Millennium’s lease agreement. 1111 Brickell is owned by KKR and Parkway Property Investments.
Treasury Liquidity is Worsening as Hedge Funds Rokos and Alphadyne Reportedly Incur Losses from Wrong-Way Bets on Yields (Market Watch)
Rokos Capital Management and Alphadyne Asset Management are being identified by Bloomberg News as two of the large hedge funds that have incurred losses as a result of wrong-way positions on government-bond yields. Yields across the world have unexpectedly converged on growing expectations of tighter policy from central banks and a darkening global outlook. The accompanying volatility has caught a number of leveraged players off guard – and is now leading to deteriorating liquidity in the Treasury market, as well as in Europe, Canada, and the U.K., according to BofA strategists.
New Fund Targets Stranded Unicorns (The Wall Street Journal)
MBM Capital is raising funds to buy venture-stage companies with real revenue and products but struggling to raise additional capital. For every $1 billion-plus private company, there is another startup struggling to raise funds in a venture-capital world obsessed with growth. Billions are being poured into the hottest startups, pushing private valuations to new heights and the number of unicorns world-wide to more than 800. But as VC firms search for the next Beyond Meat Inc., they are quick to abandon companies they believe will never become darlings of private and public investors.
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Hedge Funds Deliver for Varma (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Finnish pension fund Varma earned 13.5 percent on its investments during the nine-month period ending September, with private equity investments yielding nearly 40 percent and hedge funds more than 11 percent. Varma had €9.09 billion, or 16 percent, of its €56.6 billion-investment portfolio allocated to hedge funds at the end of September and €8.08 billion allocated to private equity.
Lazard Eyes Credit Opportunities with “Early Mover” Long/Short UCITS Launch (Hedge Week)
Lazard Asset Management has unveiled a new long/short credit UCITS hedge fund which trades investment grade, crossover, and high-yield bonds in Europe and North America. The Lazard Coherence Credit Alternative Fund replicates the original Lazard Coherence Long/Short Credit strategy, which launched in August 2012. The strategy’s “early mover” portfolio is built around Lazard’s view that fixed income markets are an extension of equity markets, and makes investments ahead of yield spread and price changes which are driven by earnings and credit ratings momentum.
