Activist Investor Sells Almost All Stake in Insurer Aviva (Standard.co.uk)
Hedge fund Cevian Capital had put Aviva and chief executive Amanda Blanc under intense pressure to boost returns to investors. Activist investor Cevian Capital has sold almost its entire stake in Aviva three years after first snapping up shares in the insurance giant. The hedge fund sold its stake in Aviva down to 60,000 shares on Wednesday, having built up a holding of 6.5%, or 150 million shares, at its peak last October.
It’s Millionaire vs. Billionaire in the Battle of the SoHo Pergola (The New York Times)
The rooftop of a historic building is the focus of a renovation skirmish between Federico Pignatelli, a financier, and Ray Dalio, the hedge-fund mogul. Millions of Americans embarked on home-improvement projects during the pandemic. Many of those projects annoyed their neighbors. But in SoHo, on the top floor of a co-op building filled with multimillion-dollar lofts, an apartment addition is the centerpiece of an only-in-New-York dispute, pitting a wealthy financier named Federico Pignatelli della Leonessa against Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates, the largest hedge fund in the world.
Millennium Taps Another Goldman Sachs Trader (Hedge Week)
Goldman Sachs has lost another trader to a hedge fund firm, with Rick Vaatsra leaving the bank’s London office this month, to join multi-strategy major Millennium Management as a senior portfolio manager based in London. Vaatsra spent over 10 years at Goldman Sachs, most recently as co-head of European index trading, having originally joined the bank as an equity derivatives trader back in November 2012. Prior to Goldman Sachs, Vaatsra, who studied finance and economics at Erasmus University Rotterdam, according to his LinkedIn profile, spent over six years at Credit Suisse as a vice president.
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Truepenny Appoints CEO Amid Launch Preparation (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Truepenny Capital Management founded by CIO Thomas Orbert, a former portfolio manager at Swedish hedge fund Nektar Management, has appointed Thomas Lönnerstam as Chief Executive Officer. The new appointment will support Truepenny Capital in the upcoming launch of Truepenny Global Macro, which is set to combine a set of strategies such as a fully systematic asset allocation strategy and a macro relative value strategy.
Hedge Fund Mogul Drops $47 Million on Ocean-View Palisades Compound (Dirt.com)
He already owns multiple lavish homes in some of California’s most affluent neighborhoods — Malibu, Montecito and Woodside, for starters — but Thomas Laffont has just finalized his biggest splurge to date: a two-house, four-parcel compound in the posh Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. The big buy set the Coatue Management hedge fund tycoon and his longtime wife Liz back nearly $50 million. The purchase was consummated in two separate transactions. Back in November, as first reported by The Real Deal, Laffont paid $29.5 million for two of the property’s four parcels, one with a 7,200-square-foot house and the other with a full-size tennis court.
Hamilton Lane Racks Up $850m for the Sustainable Investment Platform (Opalesque.com)
Alternative investment management firm Hamilton Lane has raised more than $850 million across its sustainable investment platform. The private markets investment management firm said in a press release that the fundraise includes the final closing of its social and environmental impact-focused fund, Hamilton Lane Impact Fund II at $370 million, as well as more than $500 million of sustainable-focused investment capital within separate accounts. Hamilton Lane Impact Fund II is more than 3.75 times larger than its predecessor fund. According to the release, Fund II is a closed-end investment vehicle that aims to generate attractive private equity returns alongside positive social and environmental impact.
Hedge Funds Brace for Hike Cycle End, Turn Bullish SOFR Futures (Bloomberg)
Hedge funds are going long on short-term interest-rate futures tied to the Secured Overnight Financing Rate. The shift comes as investors prepare for the end of the Federal Reserve’s series of interest-rate increases and shrug off central bank hawks who say more tightening is needed. Funds flipped long on SOFR futures contracts for the first time in over a month last week, Commodity Futures Trading Commission data show.
TradFi Hedge Fund Hunting Hill Starts Crypto Arm (CoinDesk)
Hunting Hill Global Capital, a New York-based traditional finance hedge fund with $364 million in assets under management as of a March filing, announced on Wednesday that it will starts its digital asset affiliate, Hunting Hill Digital (HHD), which is backed by an undisclosed investment from early-stage venture capital firm BaseLayer Ventures. Hunting Hill Digital’s first product will come later this year with the launch of the Crypto 25 Fund with an initial $20 million to $25 million in assets under management, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Tuesday 5/23 Insider Buying Report: CNO, KDP (Nasdaq.com)
At CNO Financial Group, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Thursday, Director Steven E. Shebik bought 12,500 shares of CNO, for a cost of $21.91 each, for a total investment of $273,821. So far Shebik is in the green, up about 3.4% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $22.64. CNO Financial Group is trading up about 1.1% on the day Tuesday. And on Friday, Director Robert S. Singer bought $270,980 worth of Keurig Dr Pepper, buying 8,500 shares at a cost of $31.88 a piece. Before this latest buy, Singer purchased KDP at 2 other times during the past year, for a total cost of $51,825 at an average of $34.55 per share. Keurig Dr Pepper is trading up about 0.4% on the day Tuesday.
$4.7M Bet On This Tech Stock? Check Out These 4 Stocks Insiders Are Buying (Benzinga)
Gen Digital: The Trade: Gen Digital Inc. (GEN) President Ondrej Vlcek acquired a total 300,000 shares an average price of $15.79. To acquire these shares, it cost around $4.74 million. Bread Financial Holdings: The Trade: Bread Financial Holdings, Inc. (BFH) 10% owner Turtle Creek Asset Management Inc acquired a total of 112,944 shares at an average price of 29.70. To acquire these shares, it cost around $3.35 million.
