Activist Fund Elliott Backs SoftBank’s $4.8 Billion Buyback Plan (Reuters)
(Reuters) – Activist investor Elliott Management said on Friday it supports SoftBank Group Corp’s (9984.T) latest move to buy back up to $4.8 billion of its shares. Elliott also said SoftBank would have opportunities to pursue additional buybacks following the completion of the merger between Sprint (S.N) and T-Mobile (TMUS.O). Earlier on Friday, SoftBank announced a plan to repurchase up to 7% of its shares as the Japanese tech conglomerate’s shares have tumbled by about a quarter in March.
Warren Buffett And The Biggest Losers From The Airline Coronavirus Selloff (Forbes)
The founders and CEOs of airlines and their major investors have taken it on the chin financially as the coronavirus pandemic has spread worldwide. Airline stocks have been one of the worst performing sectors in world markets over the past month, with the NYSE ARCA Global Airline Index plunging 43.6% as of Thursday’s close. One of the most prominent losers so far is Warren Buffett, who once quipped that investors would have been saved major heartache if a capitalist had been present to shoot down Orville Wright at Kitty Hawk in 1903. The positions held by his investment fund Berkshire Hathaway in Delta, United, Southwest and American Airlines have plummeted $3.78 billion in value over the past month to $5.74 billion. But Buffett is only the fourth biggest institutional loser on airline stocks.
Ray Dalio’s Bridgewater Hedge Funds Post Mixed Results Amid Market Turmoil (CNBC)
Bridgewater Associates, the Ray Dalio-led hedge fund giant famous for making money during the 2008 financial crisis, has posted mixed returns amid the coronavirus-led market turmoil, according to an investor with direct knowledge of the performance. Bridgewater’s flagship hedge fund, Pure Alpha II, declined 2.4% over the first six days of March, leaving it down 10.6% for the year, the investor said. Major Markets, another large fund, was also down about 12% for 2020 through March 6, the person said.
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London Hedge Fund Gains 70% from Betting on Credit Blowout (Bloomberg)
Chenavari Investment Managers has racked up a 70% return this year after the hedge fund’s long-standing bet on credit-market turmoil paid off amid the coronavirus panic. The firm’s $400 million Dynamic Credit Cycle Fund made the gains through March 12, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the details are private. The fund uses derivatives such as credit default swaps to bet on companies’ ability to repay their debts.
Valiant Capital Partners Keeps Surging Amid Market Chaos (Institutional Investor)
Hedge fund firm Valiant Capital Partners has continued its hot streak, producing double-digit gains in the face of a market meltdown that officially pushed stocks into bear market territory this week. The San Francisco firm headed by Chris Hansen notified investors on Thursday that it is up 25 percent on a…
Hedge Funds in the Red in February, But Ahead of Other Benchmarks; China-Focused Funds in the Green (Opalesque.com)
Opalesque Industry Update – The global hedge funds industry posted aggregate performance of -2.53% in February 2020 bringing YTD returns to -2.82%, according to the just-released eVestment February 2020 hedge fund performance data. While disappointing on the face of it, the aggregate figure is well ahead of global/balanced-market benchmarks, potentially highlighting the value of hedge funds in a balanced portfolio and as an investment vehicle during the period of unexpected volatility that world markets have been facing for much of this still-young year. “This is a defining time for many managers,” said eVestment Head of Research Peter Laurelli. “March is going to continue to see unprecedented volatility. Ffor some hedge fund managers this period will be a career maker.” Returns in February were highly mixed from even the largest reporting managers. A handful of the industry’s most notable funds produced losses that were of their highest magnitude in several years, while a smaller segment produced similarly outsized gains.
Hedge Funds Down 2.81 per cent in February, Says Backstop BarclayHedge (Hedge Week)
Hedge fund losses picked up in February with the industry down 2.81 per cent for the month, according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge, a division of Backstop Solutions. By comparison, the S&P Total Return Index was down 8.2 per cent for the month. For the year-to-date the hedge fund industry was down 3.00 per cent through the end of February. The S&P Total Return Index was down almost 8.3 per cent over the same period. All but a handful of hedge fund sectors were in negative territory for February, as what little good economic news to be found in the month was offset by the impact of the spreading coronavirus.
First Hedge Fund Dies Of Coronavirus (Deal Breaker)
We’ve written a lot of hedge fund obituaries in our time, both for the industry (premature) and for individual funds (usually not). There are, of course, all sorts of ways for a hedge fund to die: quantitative easing, manager boredom, confused political and economic outlooks, low volatility, frustration, Brian Hunter. But now we have a novel cause of death, specifically the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, which has claimed more than 5,000 human lives and, now, one limited partnership. Hedge-fund manager Solus Alternative Asset Management LP, known for its investment in retail chain Toys “R” Us, told investors this week that it is shutting its flagship fund and will restrict redemptions as it works to sell off holdings… The firm in the letter told investors it has received unexpected withdrawal requests this year and that the turbulence caused by the coronavirus has made it difficult to raise cash as it normally would to fulfill those requests by selling holdings.
Insider Buying Hits Nine-Year High as Stocks Sink to Bear Market (Bloomberg)
(Bloomberg) — At least one group of investors has gone bargain hunting during the wildest stretch on Wall Street in over a decade. Corporate executives and officers have been scooping up shares of their own companies at a breakneck pace in the first two weeks of March, exceeding the total of the prior two months. Insider buys are outstripping sales by the most since 2011, data compiled by The Washington Service showed.
The President & CEO of Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV) is Buying Shares (Analyst Ratings)
Yesterday, the President & CEO of Live Nation Entertainment (LYV), Michael Rapino, bought shares of LYV for $999.8K. This is Rapino’s first Buy trade following 5 Sell transactions. In addition to Michael Rapino, 3 other LYV executives reported Buy trades in the last month. Based on Live Nation Entertainment’s latest earnings report for the quarter ending December 31, the company posted quarterly revenue of $2.89 billion and GAAP net loss of $185 million.
Ducommun Inc (DCO) Chairman, President & CEO Stephen G Oswald Bought $508,950 of Shares (Guru Focus)
Chairman, President & CEO of Ducommun Inc., Stephen G Oswald, bought 15,000 shares of DCO on 03/11/2020 at an average price of $33.93 a share. The total cost of this purchase was $508,950. Ducommun Inc through its subsidiaries provides engineering and manufacturing services for high-performance products and high-cost-of failure applications used in the aerospace, defense, industrial, natural resources, medical and other industries.
