Hedge Fund and Insider Trading News: Ray Dalio, VGI Partners, Alden Global Capital, Radcliffe Group, Spouting Rock Asset Management, Dimensional Fund Advisors, Thornburg Income Builder Opportunities Trust (TBLD), TG Therapeutics Inc (TGTX), and More

Australian Hedge Fund VGI Planning Merger with Rival (Hedge Week)
Australian hedge fund VGI Partners is considering a merger of sale of its business with several rival firms including Regal Funds Management, according to a report in the Sydney Morning Herald. VGI, which runs two listed funds – VGI Partners Global Investments and VGI Partners Global Investments – and also has an unlisted hedge fund operation, has seen has seen its shares slump 40 per cent in the past 12 months amid performance concerns.

Letter: Alden Capital’s Other Papers Don’t Serve Their Community (STL Today)
Regarding “Hedge fund sues Post-Dispatch owner following rejection of takeover bid” (Dec. 15): St. Louis residents should be very happy and proud that Lee Enterprises, the Post-Dispatch’s parent company, rejected the takeover by hedge fund Alden Global Capital. This group has taken over many prominent newspapers. Both the Denver Post and the Boulder Daily Camera were two good newspapers before the acquisition; now the Camera is barely 20 pages.

Ray Dalio Advises Against Owning Cash and Bonds Amid Low Interest Rates (Financial Post)
Some say cash is king. But according to Ray Dalio, founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates, it may not be wise to keep too much of your investment money in cash (or bonds) these days. “This printing of money and buying of debt assets has driven interest rates so low that cash and bonds are stupid to own,” he wrote in a post on LinkedIn. “I think one should consider minimizing one’s ownership of cash and bonds in dollars, euros, and yen.”

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Andurand, Westbeck Hedge Funds Soar on Back of Commodities Rally (Bloomberg)
Commodities trader Pierre Andurand capped another strong showing in 2021, with one of his hedge funds returning 87%, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. The advance by the Andurand Commodities Discretionary Enhanced Fund followed a gain of 154% in 2020. His older Andurand Commodities Fund closed 2021 up 36%. The Andurand Climate and Energy Transition Fund, formed in July, returned 28%, the people said.

Forget Shareholder Resolutions, Fund Manager Says: Hire Better Directors (Reuters)
Jan 10 (Reuters) – A Texas-based fund manager is not jumping on the bandwagon of peers backing shareholder resolutions that call on companies to take stronger action on climate change. Dimensional Fund Advisors argues it would be more effective to just replace corporate directors who fail to address the issue. Austin-based Dimensional backed just a tiny fraction of the climate-related shareholder resolutions tracked by Boston-based advocacy group Ceres last year.

Hedge Fund Radcliffe Sells Minority Stake to Kudu (Pensions&Investments)
Radcliffe Group, a $3.5 billion private credit hedge fund, sold a minority stake to Kudu Investment Management, a capital provider for asset and wealth management firms, said Steve Katznelson, Radcliffe co-founder and CIO. Terms of the deal and size of the minority stake are not being disclosed. “This is a step toward institutionalizing Radcliffe and assisting with our plan to elevate more senior people in the firm” without giving up control of the firm, Mr. Katznelson said.

Spouting Rock Takes Majority Stake in Alternative Credit Manager Old Hill Partners (Opalesque)
Spouting Rock Asset Management, a multi-boutique manager platform providing investment solutions and services, has bought a majority stake in Old Hill Partners, a Connecticut alternative asset manager focused on asset-based lending transactions with small and midsize businesses. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, though Old Hill has $230 million in assets under management and six employees who will operate as a subsidiary of Spouting Rock, which has $3 billion in AUM and roughly 30 employees.

Carbon Price May Nearly Double, Says Northlander After Hedge Fund’s 148% Gain (Bloomberg)
Northlander Commodity Advisors LLP’s main hedge fund gained a record 148% last year, driven by a call that the European Union’s carbon price would surge. The bet paid off handsomely for the fund, which gained 14.5% in December, according to a letter to investors seen by Bloomberg. EU carbon last month rose to an all-time high above 90 euros ($102) per metric ton and finished the year up 147%, due to increased climate ambitions in Brussels and a gas crunch that’s made it more profitable to burn polluting coal.

Monday 1/10 Insider Buying Report: TBLD, FORA (Nasdaq.com)
At Thornburg Income Builder Opportunities Trust, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Wednesday, President Jason H. Brady purchased 52,000 shares of TBLD, at a cost of $18.83 each, for a total investment of $979,032. So far Brady is in the green, up about 1.1% on their purchase based on today’s trading high of $19.04. Thornburg Income Builder Opportunities Trust is trading off about 0.6% on the day Monday. And on Friday, Martin J. Wygod purchased $115,076 worth of Forian, purchasing 14,573 shares at a cost of $7.90 a piece. Before this latest buy, Wygod bought FORA at 9 other times during the past year, for a total cost of $947,710 at an average of $9.59 per share. Forian is trading off about 1% on the day Monday.

What Did This CEO Just Do with Personal Shares of TG Therapeutics (NASDAQ: TGTX)? (Analyst Ratings)
On January 7, the CEO & President of TG Therapeutics (TGTX), Michael S. Weiss, sold shares of TGTX for $1.28M. Following Michael S. Weiss’ last TGTX Sell transaction on June 27, 2019, the stock climbed by 9.5%. In addition to Michael S. Weiss, one other TGTX executive reported Sell trades in the last month.

SEC Charges Three Florida Residents in Multi-Million Dollar Insider Trading Scheme (HedgeCo.net)
(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced charges against three Florida residents for trading in advance of market moving announcements involving DSW Inc., Rite Aid Corporation, and an attempt to acquire Aphria Inc., a Canadian cannabis-related business. According to the SEC’s complaint, David Schottenstein of Surfside, Fla. repeatedly obtained inside information and used it to trade in advance of an August 2017 DSW earnings announcement and a December 2018 tender offer to acquire Aphria. Schottenstein also allegedly received information and traded ahead of the February 2018 announcement of a merger agreement between Albertsons Companies, Inc. and Rite Aid.