Bridgewater Associates Expands Global Footprint with New Office in Singapore (PR Newswire Asia)
SINGAPORE, Aug. 31, 2022 /PRNewswire/ – Bridgewater Associates (“Bridgewater”), a global leader in institutional portfolio management, today announced that it has opened an office in Singapore. Highlighting the importance of the pan-Asia market, Bridgewater’s new office is both symbolic of its deep commitment to the region and a natural progression of the firm’s long-standing partnership with clients in the area. “The world has increased in complexity and, in turn, so have the challenges our clients are facing,” said Kyle Delaney, President and Chief Commercial Officer of Bridgewater. “Our Singapore office has been many years in the making and allows us not only seek to provide best-in-class partnership to our clients in the region, but also to our global client base that will benefit from our deep understanding of this important market as a result of our presence here.”
Hedge Fund Manager Andurand Says Oil Futures Market Is Broken (Bloomberg)
The oil market is broken, according to hedge fund manager Pierre Andurand. The commodities trader known for his bullish calls opined on Twitter that futures can now move $10 a barrel lower a day “for no apparent reason.” The comments echo those of several market participants in recent weeks, including the Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, who said extreme volatility and lack of liquidity has led to the futures market being increasingly disconnected from fundamentals.
Signed Portrait of Warren Buffett Fetches $75,100 at Auction (Reuters)
Aug 31 (Reuters) – A signed portrait of Warren Buffett fetched $75,100 at auction, with proceeds to benefit a hometown charity that the billionaire investor has long supported. The auction concluded on eBay on Tuesday night, Buffett’s 92nd birthday. The winner was not immediately identified. Created by Motiva Art, the high-tech portrait features rows of letters that light up to spell quotations attributed to Buffett, such as “Women make me optimistic about America.”
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Hargreaves Lansdown Attracts Short-Sellers (Hedge Week)
Financial services company Hargreaves Lansdown has attracted the attention of short-sellers, with a record 5.69% of the company’s shares on loan to hedge funds including AQR Capital Management, Hound Partners and Marshall Wace, according to a report by This Is Money. The short positions equate to a £230 million bet against against the firm as it struggles to sustain the boom it witnessed during the pandemic. The report says official data shows that short positions in Hargreaves Lansdown have roughly doubled in the past six months.
Scotiabank Canadian Hedge Fund Index Ends July up 0.95% (-1.96% YTD) on Asset-Weighted Basis (Opalesque)
Opalesque Industry Update – The Scotiabank Canadian Hedge Fund Index ended July 2022 up 0.95% MOM on an asset-weighted basis and up 1.97% MOM on an equal-weighted basis. The comparable benchmark indices were both up for the month, with the S&P TSX 60 Total Return Index and S&P 500 Total Return Index posting increases of 3.91% and 9.22% respectively. The Scotiabank Canadian Hedge Fund Index provides a comprehensive overview of the Canadian Hedge Fund universe. Returns are calculated using an equal-weighting and an asset-based weighting of the funds. The index includes open and closed funds with a minimum AUM of C$15 million and a 12-month track record, that are managed by Canadian-domiciled managers.
Hedge Fund Bleichroeder LP Pushes Stake in CompoSecure (CMPO) to ~19% After The Stock Retraces (Nasdaq.com)
On Monday afternoon, a Form 4 was filed by credit card manufacturer CompoSecure (US:CMPO), regarding the on market purchase of shares by hedge fund Bleichroeder LP. The transaction was first seen in Fintel’s insider trading tracker on Tuesday evening. The New York City based investment firm founded by Andrew Gundlach and Michael Kellen purchased 500,000 new shares at $5.50 for a total of $2.75 million. Bleichroeder’s total holding edged to 2.87 million shares following the transaction and brings their ownership in CompoSecure to around ~19%. Bleichroeder is currently the largest institutional investor on the share register by ownership size following the transaction. Surprisingly, the trade price came in at the lowest point in August after shares pulled back more than 20% from the rally following second quarter results.
Greenwashing: Understanding the Alphabet of ESG Affiliations (Preqin)
How affiliations can illuminate a GP or LP’s commitments to ESG. A fast fashion brand launches a sustainability clothing line, with little or no evidence of its environmental impact. A bank markets itself as addressing climate change yet is a substantial lender to industries that generate the highest levels of greenhouse gases. The list of these greenwashing examples continues to grow. Even investors with a genuine commitment to ESG improvement risk their initiatives being labeled greenwashing.
Litigation: SEC Charges Hedge Fund Portfolio Manager with Fraud (InsuranceNewsNet.com)
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged the portfolio manager of an Oklahoma City hedge fund with defrauding the fund and its investors by making undisclosed trades that caused the fund to suffer a complete loss of investor capital totaling more than $10 million. According to the SEC’s Complaint, from at least November 2016 through February 2018, Lee A. Bressler served as portfolio manager for the Carbon Master Fund, L.P. The SEC alleges that Bressler represented to investors that the fund followed a conservative investment strategy emphasizing capital preservation and low risk.
Fund Manager Beats 100% of Peers Using Toughest ESG Strategy (Bloomberg)
A portfolio manager at Triodos Investment Management outperformed all peers in the first seven months of 2022 using Europe’s strictest sustainable fund category. The Triodos Energy Transition Europe Fund (ticker TRTREQE NA), which invests in wind, solar and energy-storage projects, is up almost 50% so far this year. No other fund registered as Article 9 — the greenest classification within the EU’s environmental, social and governance investing rulebook — has done better, according to data compiled by Morningstar Inc. through the end of July.
Wednesday 8/31 Insider Buying Report: FCX, OPBK (Nasdaq.com)
At Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold, a filing with the SEC revealed that on Monday, Director Ryan Michael Lance bought 31,000 shares of FCX, at a cost of $31.88 each, for a total investment of $988,314. Bargain hunters are able to snag FCX even cheaper than Lance did, with shares trading as low as $29.11 in trading on Wednesday which is 8.7% under Lance’s purchase price. Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold is trading off about 1.9% on the day Wednesday. Before this latest buy, Lance made one other buy in the past year, purchasing $5,034 shares for a cost of $38.72 each. And also on Monday, Director Brian Choi bought $192,186 worth of OP Bancorp, buying 15,275 shares at a cost of $12.58 each. Before this latest buy, Choi bought OPBK at 10 other times during the past year, for a total investment of $2.05M at an average of $12.16 per share.
Kellogg Vice Chairman Sold $8.52M In Company Stock (Benzinga)
Gary H Pilnick, Vice Chairman at Kellogg (K), reported a large insider sell on August 30, according to a new SEC filing. What Happened: A Form 4 filing from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday showed that Pilnick sold 113,725 shares of Kellogg. The total transaction amounted to $8,516,233.
