UPDATE 2-Activist Hedge Fund Elliott Builds Stake in Dutch Insurer NN Group (Reuters)
AMSTERDAM, Feb 20 (Reuters) – Elliott Investment Management, U.S. billionaire Paul Singer’s activist hedge fund firm, has built up a 3.04% stake in Dutch insurer NN Group, a filing by the Dutch financial regulator AFM showed on Thursday. Elliott’s move sent NN Group shares up 2% at 0815 GMT in Amsterdam, making them the biggest winner in the blue chip AEX index.
Here’s What a Top-Paid Hedge Fund Manager, Stephen Mandel, is Betting On (CNBC)
Billionaire hedge fund manager Stephen Mandel founded Lone Pine Capital 23 years ago and boasts one of the best long-term track records in the industry. The all-star manager made nearly $1 billion last year, one of the top earners among the world’s biggest hedge fund managers. Here’s a look at what he’s betting on.
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Nordic CTAs: So Far, So Good (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Nordic CTAs performed strongly during the first half of February, based on figures from nine of the 15 members of the NHX CTA. RPM Galaxy, SEB Asset Selection Opportunistic, and Lynx (Sweden) are this month’s best performers so far. RPM Galaxy, a multi-CTA fund that invests in a group of large and established CTA managers with at least $500 million under management, advanced 8.8 percent month-to-date through February 19. The other fund managed by Stockholm-based RPM Risk & Portfolio Management, RPM Evolving CTA Fund, gained 4.3 percent month-to-date.
How Technology Is Transforming Infrastructure (Preqin)
Infracapital invests in infrastructure across Europe. What are some of the benefits of having a diversified portfolio? Since 2004 we’ve made 53 investments, in 19 sub-sectors, across 13 countries. A pan-European diversified mandate means that we can focus on the areas that we believe offer the best value at any given time and leverage our multinational team to build relationships across those regions and sectors. When we’re talking to developers, entrepreneurs, or corporates about new opportunities we can refer them to businesses we own, or have owned in the past. That means if we own an integrated energy solution business that’s been operating for many years and we want to look at creating a new one in a different jurisdiction, we can speak to our potential partners and say “look, we’ve done this over here, and we have a lot of experience with businesses just like this one.” Having these kinds of relevant, real-world reference points is really important.
Ken Griffin Adds Calvin Klein’s Hamptons Compound to Collection of Luxury Homes (The Wall Street Journal)
Billionaire Ken Griffin is adding a Hamptons house to his growing portfolio of trophy real estate, this time buying the oceanfront property of fashion designer Calvin Klein, according to sources familiar with the transaction. The roughly 7-acre property on coveted Meadow Lane in Southampton wasn’t formally on the market. The price couldn’t be immediately determined, but an agent familiar with the market said the property could be worth as much as $100 million. The deal is in contract but isn’t yet closed, according to people…
Backstop Solutions Group Introduces Agile Pipeline Management for Alternative Asset Managers (Hedge Week)
Backstop Solutions Group, provider of a cloud-based productivity suite for institutional and alternative investors, has launched Agile Pipeline Management for capital-raising teams within asset management firms. The new capability enables users to shape a complete view of their pipeline on the fly through an intuitive, real-time experience. “Our Pipeline Manager provides users with an unparalleled self-service solution,” says Adam Hoit, VP of Product at Backstop Solutions Group. “We enhanced the support for firms that need to operate with agility by giving them the ability to update pipeline views, modify single or multiple data points, and incorporate new data fields without having to wait for billable development by their software vendors.
Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager’s Super Yacht Damages Pristine Reef In Belize (CelebrityNetWorth.com)
There’s a joke in here somewhere about a billionaire hedge fund manager with $2.3 billion dollars and a yacht damaging a precious environmental asset. You know the one about having more money than brains? Anyway, let’s just get right down to it. Billionaire Dan Loeb, founder of Third Point, has a 200-foot yacht named Samadhi. The yacht was anchored on this fateful Sunday in February at Belize’s Lighthouse Reef Atoll. The enormous yacht damaged the pristine reef atoll near the popular diving site Great Blue Hole. Loeb was reportedly not on the yacht at the time this incident was reported. A spokesperson for Belize’s Department of the Environment told the press that the yacht had caused quite a bit of damage to the reef.
Meet The Org, a Startup that Wants to Take You Inside a Company’s org Chart. It Just Raised $8.5 million Led by Sequoia Capital and is Exploring News and Job Postings Next (Business Insider)
The Org, a startup that wants to map out companies’ org charts, just nabbed $8.5 million in funding. The round was led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from Balderton and Founders Fund. As its database grows, The Org’s co-founders Christian Wylonis and Andreas Jarbøl are focused on launching a premium offering for professional users like recruiters, salespeople, and journalists. The startup is also exploring job posting functionality and building out its news feed.
Tracking Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Portfolio – Q4 2019 Update (Seeking Alpha)
Bill Ackman‘s 13F portfolio value increased from $6.49B to $6.55B this quarter. Pershing Square increased Howard Hughes and Agilent Technologies during the quarter. The largest three 13F positions are Chipotle Mexican Grill, Hilton Worldwide Holdings, and Lowes Companies. They together account for ~56% of the portfolio. This article is part of a series that provides an ongoing analysis of the changes made to Pershing Square’s 13F portfolio on a quarterly basis. It is based on Ackman’s regulatory 13F Form filed on 02/14/2020. Please visit our Tracking Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Holdings article for an idea on how his holdings have progressed over the years and our previous update for the fund’s moves during Q3 2019.
Ex-Merrill Banker Charged in French Insider-Trading Probe (Bloomberg)
(Bloomberg) — A former Merrill Lynch banker has been charged as part of a French insider-trading investigation focusing on suspicious gains made by a Geneva-based trader and a leak from a former consultant at Brunswick Group LLP. The charges against Samy Khouadja, filed in 2018 but disclosed in court earlier this month, related to a failed oil services deal. The case against Khouadja, who left Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch in February 2014, emerged at a French top court hearing where he and other defendants sought to challenge the way investigators gathered evidence.
Thursday 2/20 Insider Buying Report: ALTG, ADTN (Nasdaq.com)
On Tuesday, Alta Equipment Group’s Director, Daniel Shribman, made a $499,996 buy of ALTG, purchasing 47,393 shares at a cost of $10.55 each. Alta Equipment Group is trading down about 0.9% on the day Thursday. This buy marks the first one filed by Shribman in the past twelve months. And also on Tuesday, Chief Product Officer Daniel T. Whalen purchased $177,367 worth of Adtran, purchasing 20,000 shares at a cost of $8.87 a piece. This purchase marks the first one filed by Whalen in the past twelve months. Adtran is trading up about 6.6% on the day Thursday. Whalen was up about 5.5% on the purchase at the high point of today’s trading session, with ADTN trading as high as $9.36 in trading on Thursday.
Fortinet Inc (FTNT) CFO & Chief Accounting Officer Keith Jensen Sold $1.3 million of Shares (Guru Focus)
CFO & Chief Accounting Officer of Fortinet Inc., Keith Jensen, sold 11,002 shares of FTNT on 02/18/2020 at an average price of $119.78 a share. The total sale was $1.3 million. Fortinet Inc software solutions provider. The company develops and sells a portfolio of security software products which includes firewall, threat detection, WLAN and switching, application security, identity and access management.
The CFO of Meritage (NYSE: MTH) is Selling Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the CFO of Meritage (MTH), Hilla Sferruzza, sold shares of MTH for $856.4K. Following Hilla Sferruzza’s last MTH Sell transaction on April 29, 2019, the stock climbed by 20.5%. In addition to Hilla Sferruzza, 3 other MTH executives reported Sell trades in the last month. Based on Meritage’s latest earnings report for the quarter ending December 31, the company posted quarterly revenue of $1.14 billion and quarterly net profit of $104 million.
