Cohen’s Point72 Approaching Peak Assets (HFAlert.com)
The assets of Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management could soon surpass those of predecessor SAC Capital. Point72 was running $16.1 billion this month. At its peak in 2008, just before the worst of the global financial crisis, SAC had $16.8 billion under management. The Stamford, Conn., multi-strategy shop’s assets subsequently dipped by a few billion dollars, then bounced back to an estimated $14 billion in 2013 – when a federal insider-trading investigation led to the return of all outside capital. The probe, centering on the activities of several former staffers, also led to a guilty plea from SAC, which agreed to pay $1.2 billion to the U.S. Justice Department and $616 million to the SEC.
ValueAct CEO Jeff Ubben to Step Down: Source (Reuters)
(Reuters) – ValueAct Capital Partners LP’s founder Jeff Ubben is stepping down as chief executive officer and will be replaced by the activist hedge fund’s president, Mason Morfit, according to a source familiar with the matter. Ubben will become the chairman of the company and continue to oversee ValueAct Spring Fund, which invests in companies aiming to address environmental and social problems, the source said.
Bridgewater Co-CIO Bob Prince Says Boom-Bust Cycle Is Over (Bloomberg)
Bob Prince, who helps oversee the world’s biggest hedge fund at Bridgewater Associates, says the boom-bust economic cycle is over. The tightening of central banks all around the world “wasn’t intended to cause the downturn, wasn’t intended to cause what it did,” Prince, the co-chief investment officer of Bridgewater, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV at the Swiss resort of Davos. “But I think lessons were learned from that and I think it was really a marker that we’ve probably seen the end of the boom-bust cycle.”
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Former LSE Boss Xavier Rolet Steps Down as Chief of CQS (The Wall Street Journal)
LONDON – Xavier Rolet, the former head of London Stock Exchange Group PLC, is stepping down after a year as chief executive of investment firm CQS. Mr. Rolet will exit the top job at CQS to become a strategic adviser to the firm, which was founded by billionaire Michael Hintze.
Årets Hedgefond 2019 (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – PriorNilsson Idea has been named the “Hedge Fund of the Year” at the annual “Årets Fonder” event organized by fund platform Fondmarknaden.se. The “Årets Hedgefond 2019” award was one of the ten awards handed out at the annually-held event that recognizes the best funds among the 1,800 funds available on Fondmarknaden.se. “We are happy that our focused stock-picking strategy, combined with added protection in volatile markets, has proven to give investors good risk-adjusted returns over different market conditions,” Torgny Prior, who co-founded Stockholm-based asset manager PriorNilsson Fonder with Per Olof Nilsson in 2002, tells HedgeNordic. “Large holdings in Skanska and Klövern developed well during the year and contributed to the performance in 2019,” he adds.
Activist Hedge Fund Elliott Sells Stakes in Hyundai Motor Companies: Paper (Reuters)
SEOUL (Reuters) – Elliott Management sold all its shares in Hyundai Motor Group companies last year, a South Korean newspaper reported on Wednesday, after the U.S. activist hedge fund’s campaign demanding 7 trillion won ($6 billion) in dividends and board seats was thwarted in March. Elliott held more than $1 billion (£710.6 million) worth of shares in Hyundai Motor (005380.KS), Kia Motors (000270.KS) and Hyundai Mobis (012330.KS), an Elliott unit said in April 2018. But it was not on the December 2019 year-end list of shareholders in any of the companies, the Korea Economic Daily reported, citing an unidentified investment banking source.
Emerging Market Hedge Fund ProMeritum’s Five-Year Flourish (Hedge Week)
Now entering its sixth year of operation, ProMeritum Investment Management – a London-based discretionary emerging markets fixed income-focused manager – has notched up five successive years of positive returns since launching in January 2015. With more than USD350 million in assets under management, the ProMeritum fund made 9.61 per cent last year, trading an opportunistic, theme-based investment portfolio built around a broad range of idiosyncratic, proprietary ideas spanning sovereign and corporate credit, local currencies and other fixed income assets.
Vivint Solar Inc (VSLR) CEO David Bywater Sold $679,167 of Shares (Guru Focus)
CEO of Vivint Solar Inc., David Bywater, sold 75,463 shares of VSLR on 01/17/2020 at an average price of $9 a share. The total sale was $679,167. Vivint Solar Inc offers distributed solar energy to residential customers based on long-term customer contracts, such as power purchase agreements or lease the solar energy systems.
The CEO&VP, Global Sales of SolarEdge Technologies (NASDAQ: SEDG) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Today, the CEO & VP, Global Sales of SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG), Zvi Lando, bought shares of SEDG for $262.3K. Following this transaction Zvi Lando’s holding in the company was increased by 18.71% to a total of $8.24 million. Following Zvi Lando’s last SEDG Buy transaction on December 18, 2019, the stock climbed by 12.9%.
NUS Researchers Drop Claim of ‘Insider Trading’ Among Real Estate Executives on the Golf Course (TodayOnline.com)
SINGAPORE – Days after the Real Estate Developers’ Association of Singapore (Redas) took issue with a research paper that said it had found “evidence of insider trading in the land market”, the team of researchers behind the study has dropped the claim.
The researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) said they could not establish that real estate developers here were engaged in “insider trading” and thus had removed that term in a later version of their research paper, dated Jan 19, 2020.
CFTC Orders Australian Company to Pay $1 Million for Spoofing (HedgeCo.net)
(HedgeCo.Net) The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has settled charges against Propex Derivatives Pty Ltd, a proprietary trading firm headquartered in Australia, for spoofing in the Chicago Mercantile Exchange E-mini S&P 500 futures market. The order finds that Propex, through a former trader, engaged in spoofing from at least July 2012 through March 2017, causing $464,300 in market losses. The order imposes a total of $1 million against Propex, comprised of $464,300 in restitution, $73,429 in disgorgement, and a $462,271 civil monetary penalty. It also requires Propex to cease and desist from violating the Commodity Exchange Act’s prohibition on spoofing. This case was brought in connection with the CFTC Division of Enforcement’s Spoofing Task Force.
Snap Inc (SNAP) CFO Derek Andersen Sold $796,414 of Shares (Guru Focus)
CFO of Snap Inc., Derek Andersen (insider trades) sold 42,116 shares of SNAP on 01/17/2020 at an average price of $18.91 a share. The total sale was $796,414. Snap Inc is a camera application developer. Its main product is Snapchat, a camera application created to help people communicate through short videos and images. It also offers Spectacles, which are camera-enabled sunglasses.
The Chief Executive Officer & Pres of Discovery (NASDAQ: DISCA) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the Chief Executive Officer & Pres of Discovery (DISCA), David Zaslav, bought shares of DISCA for $54.88M. Following this transaction David Zaslav’s holding in the company was increased by 542.95% to a total of $39.81 million. This is Zaslav’s first Buy trade following 5 Sell transactions.
