Pershing Square Investors Take Some Chips Off the Table (The Wall Street Journal)
Good hedge-fund managers know to take some profits when they earn outsize returns. Some investors in Pershing Square Capital Management LP appear to be following the same playbook. Bill Ackman and Pershing Square’s strong year of performance has been well documented.
Hedge Fund Brevan Howard’s 11-year Winning Run Ends In 2014 (Reuters)
Brevan Howard recorded the first annual loss in its flagship $24 billion macro hedge fund last year, an investor letter showed, ending an 11-year winning run that made it one of the biggest players in the $3 trillion industry. The setback shows the challenges facing the firm after it was forced to shut two hedge funds following losses. It was also in the spotlight due to a legal battle with former trader Chris Rokos over the enforcement of a five-year non-compete agreement.
Former Deutsche Bank Trader Strikes $50 Million Deal for New Hedge Fund (The Wall Street Journal)
The former head of Deutsche Bank AG ’s residential mortgage-backed securities trading group has struck a deal with Grosvenor Capital Management LP for $50 million in startup cash in exchange for a cut of fees earned from his new hedge fund. Troy Dixon, who managed a group of 70 at Deutsche Bank until resigning in 2013, got off the ground with his new structured-credit-focused Hollis Park Partners LP last month, people familiar with the firm said.
Exclusive: Ex-Goldman trader Goldberg’s Fund BBL Gains 51 Percent in 2014 (Reuters)
Ex-Goldman Sachs oil trader Jonathan Goldberg has emerged as one of the biggest winners in the volatile energy markets of the past year, profiting first from a winter rally and later shorting prompt oil just before the market collapsed. Goldberg’s New York-based BBL Commodities Value Fund, a barely year-old fund that now manages nearly $540 million, returned a net 51 percent to investors in 2014, an investor letter obtained by Reuters showed.
The Best Hedge Funds For 2015 Are… (CNBC)
Critics love to hate hedge funds’ relatively high fees, low performance and secrecy. But the industry is managing more money than ever—and is poised to grow even more in 2015. “Barring a large and unexpected global or financial event, hedge funds are positioned for another year of solid growth,” industry data tracker eVestment wrote in a new report.
Judge Rules in Favor of Hedge Fund ‘Appraisal Arbitrage’ Strategy (The Wall Street Journal)
Hedge funds looking for higher payouts in corporate buyouts scored a win this week. In a case stemming from the 2012 buyout of Ancestry.com Inc., a judge on Monday ruled shareholder Merion Capital LP didn’t have to prove it voted its shares against the family-tree website’s buyout to challenge the deal’s $1.6 billion price tag in court.
Guggenheim Hedge Fund Stumbles (CNBC)
Guggenheim Partners has slashed personnel at an internal hedge fund that hasn’t lived up to big expectations. The $220 billion asset management and investment banking firm cut at least eight senior employees in December at Guggenheim Global Trading, a roughly $600 million hedge fund unit based in the New York suburb of Purchase.
