Third Point Treads Water in July (Institutional Investor)
The stock market was hot in July, but Third Point Offshore missed the party. The hedge fund headed by Dan Loeb was essentially flat for the month despite a 9.2 percent gain in the S&P 500, including dividends reinvested, according to Third Point’s July letter to clients.
Greylock, Pantera Led $18M Round for NFT Infrastructure Provider Pinata (Coin Desk)
Non-fungible token (NFT) distribution platform Pinata raised $18 million in a Series A funding round co-led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm and crypto-native investor Pantera, a Pinata spokeswoman confirmed to CoinDesk. The company also revealed a $3.5 million seed round that closed last year and was led by Greylock and Offline Ventures. NFTs are unique crypto assets that prove ownership of real world or digital items such as images, videos or in-game assets.
Argo Group Hands Board Seat to Activist Investment Firm Voce Capital (Reuters)
BOSTON, Aug 8 (Reuters) – Argo Group International Holdings handed a board seat to its largest investor on Monday, adding activist hedge fund manager J. Daniel Plants only a few months after announcing a strategic review that could include a sale of the insurance company. Argo, which underwrites specialty insurance products in the property and casualty market, said it expanded the size of its board by one to nine directors. Plants, who runs Voce Capital Management, will serve on the strategic review and human resources committees.
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Hedge Funds Deserve the Drubbing By Private Equity (The Washington Post)
When the liquidity tide recedes, investors from sovereign wealth to billionaire family offices are getting even more impatient with hedge funds. They are discovering that a lot of these expensive money managers don’t really hedge, and the pivot toward private equity was the right decision after all. Hedge funds are on track for the second-worst year of return on record, beaten only by the steep losses during the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Star managers are nursing billion dollar losses. Tiger Global Management’s main hedge fund, which started the year with $21 billion, lost about half of its value as of July. Melvin Capital Management, a once-high-flying manager that got an unusual bailout from Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management, shut its door in May.
Nordic Equity HFs Rebound (Hedge Nordic)
Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Nordic equity hedge funds rebounded last month as stock markets soared following one of their worst first-half of the year performance in decades. Equity funds in the Nordic Hedge Index advanced 3.7 percent in July (85 percent reported) to trim their year-to-date decline to 4.4 percent. The top 20 percent of Nordic equity hedge funds advanced 11.9 percent on average in July and the bottom 20 percent lost 2.3 percent, representing a top-to-bottom dispersion of 14.2 percent. About three in every four equity hedge funds in the Nordic Hedge Index with reported July figures posted gains last month. One in every four Nordic equity hedge funds ended the first seven months of 2022 in positive territory.
Hedge Funds Rebound in July, as First-Half Performance Dispersion Narrows (Hedge Week)
Performance dispersion among hedge funds has narrowed in recent weeks, as almost 60% of managers generated profits in July – with long/short equity, event driven and relative value strategies all making gains, according to new industry data. Last month’s rise – which averages some 1.65% across all hedge fund sub-strategies, according to performance metrics published by Hedge Fund Research – comes as the industry looks to bounce back from a tricky first half of 2022.
Three Fundraising Challenges for Private Equity Fund Managers and How to Overcome Them (Preqin)
With $1.2tn of dry powder available to private equity managers at the end of 2021 (26.3% of total private equity AUM), and the impact of inflation delaying LPs’ allocations to the asset class while they re-balance their portfolios, we see a tougher environment for GPs to operate in. Below, we look at the top three challenges managers face in today’s fundraising market and provide key solutions to overcome them.
Here’s How Hedge Funds Did When Stocks Surged in July (Institutional Investor)
With equity markets recovering sharply in July after the worst calendar-year first half in more than 50 years, hedge funds also saw gains. According to Hedge Fund Research data, equity hedge funds, which use long-short strategies, posted solid numbers in July. HFR’s investable HFRI 500 Equity Hedge Index increased 3.25 percent and its HFRI Equity Hedge Total Index gained 2.9 percent.
Over $390 Million Bet On Occidental Petroleum? 4 Stocks Insiders Are Buying (Benzinga)
WESCO International: The Trade: WESCO International, Inc. (WCC) 10% owner GEI Capital VII, LLC acquired a total 600,000 shares at an average price of $131.08. To acquire these shares, it cost around $78.65 million. Occidental Petroleum: The Trade: Occidental Petroleum Corporation (OXY) 10% owner Warren E Buffett acquired a total of 6,681,669 shares at an average price of $58.48. To acquire these shares, it cost around $390.72 million.
Rumor China Is Probing Fund Managers for OTC Insider Trading Is Bogus, Sources Say (Yicai Global)
Industry sources have denied an online rumor that China has opened an investigation into fund managers for insider trading using over-the-counter market options. “The rumor said it involves over 300 fund managers, which is crazy,” a mutual fund expert told Yicai Global. A derivatives specialist also dismissed the hearsay, which went viral on social media yesterday, saying “these things are reported by netizens, and there is currently no evidence.” No asset management firm has publicly responded to the rumor yet.
Insider Buying: Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI) CEO Acquires 500,000 Shares of Stock (ETF Daily News)
Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE:GCI) CEO Michael Reed purchased 500,000 shares of Gannett stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 8th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $2.44 per share, with a total value of $1,220,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,836,335 shares in the company, valued at $4,480,657.40.
