Activist investing stimulate innovation and strength in targeted companies... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: The third-party activism in corporate governance can increase the longevity and sustainability of a company's innovation, says a new research. Research from Columbia Business School's Professor Wei Jiang, Arthur F. Burns Professor of Free and Competitive Ent

Micro venture capital funds are set to beat the 2018 record in the U.S.... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: US-based micro venture capital funds (sized at $100mn or less) had a record year in 2018, raising $7.8bn across 316 vehicles, a record that may well be broken this year, said a study. According to Preqin, with $6.1bn raised in the first three quarters of 2019, micro

European fund manager Azimut enters the U.S. market for private equity stakes... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: European fund manager Azimut, which manages about $65bn in assets under management, has launched Azimut Alternative Capital Partners (AACP) in New York to invest in general partner (GP) stakes of alternative managers specialized in the private markets space. The Ita

HarbourVest raises $3bn for Co-Investment Fund V... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Boston-based HarbourVest Partners closed its latest private equity fund above the fundraising target - the $3 billion HarbourVest Partners Co-Investment Fund V was oversubscribed and above its $2.5 billion target. The fund's strategy is to create a global, diversif

Optimism rules European family business says KPMG research... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: 62 percent of Europe's private family businesses are confident or very confident about the future business's outlook for the next 12 months. Optimism is especially high among family businesses in Ireland (91 percent), Portugal (78 percent) and the Netherlands (6

Opalesque Roundup: Hedge funds still largest alternatives investment but quickly giving up market share: hedge fund news, week 43... [more]In the week ending November 15th 2019, a new study from Ernst & Young (EY) found that hedge funds continue to make up the largest percentage of investors' allocations to alternatives, but they are quickly giving up market share to private equity firms raking in the cash that investors are

New Launches: ExodusPoint hedge fund reopening to raise over $2bn, SoftBank's second Vision Fund is starting life a lot smaller than the first, ConsenSys strategy chief steps down to launch venture fund, LLR Partners to target $1.4bn for its sixth fund... [more]ExodusPoint hedge fund reopening to raise over $2bn From Bloomberg: ExodusPoint Capital Management, which launched last year with a record $8 billion in assets, is setting out to collect billions more. The hedge fund, co-founded by Michael Gelband and Hyung Lee, aims to gather more

Hedge funds see diminishing returns in Trump's tweets... [more]From Financial News: From tariffs to the Fed, the president's social media can rock markets - but is the effect fading? On May 30, US President Donald Trump declared a new trade policy on Twitter. "On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexi

Janus Henderson Contrarian is up nearly 40% this year by betting on 'misunderstood' ideas... [more]Nick Schommer runs the Janus Henderson Contrarian I (JCONX) fund, which is up a blistering 36.6% in 2019. This staggering outperformance is a byproduct of large bets on stocks such as Crown Holdings, a company that makes aluminum cans, Disney, Liberty Media Formula One and PagSeguro Digital. Schomm

Icahn suffers Occidental legal blow as Buffett buys in... [more]From FT: Activist investor Carl Icahn was dealt a blow in his campaign against the management of US shale driller Occidental Petroleum, where he has been trying to force his way on to the board in the wake of its deal to buy rival Anadarko. A Delaware judge rejected Mr Icahn's attempt to force

Institutional Investors: CalPERS puts additional $288m with Columbia Threadneedle, PIMCO, Lexington Contributory issues call for passive U.S. equity managers, NEST selects Wells Fargo Asset Management for global corporate bond mandate... [more]CalPERS puts additional $288m with Columbia Threadneedle, PIMCO From PIonline.com: CalPERS invested an additional $218 million in an existing global fixed-income portfolio managed by Columbia Threadneedle Investments and $70 million in an existing global fixed-income portfolio managed by

Dow surges despite hedge fund billionaire Ray Dalio's dire warning... [more]From CCN: The Dow Jones rallied once again on hopes of progress in the trade war, as Wilbur Ross and Larry Kudlow both suggested that a deal was getting very close. Given that the stock market has rallied over and over again on similar news, it remains to be seen how durable this rally in the Dow wi

Investing: What hedge funds are buying and selling, Carpetright agrees takeover by poker-playing hedge funder, The analyst who sniffed out Buffett and Icahn moves believes someone big is buying Netflix, How you can make money copying hedge funds, The $906.5m big short on Corbyn - hedge funds are short-selling big companies at risk of nationalisation... [more]What hedge funds are buying and selling From Bloomberg: In a tumultuous third quarter, stirred by an escalating U.S. trade war with China, hedge funds made Alibaba Group Holding, the largest Chinese company traded in New York, and cloud-based software provider Salesforce.com top buys.

People: William Blair hires fund manager trio who left Dutch rival in ESG row, Aegon Asset Management appoints head of emerging markets debt... [more]William Blair hires fund manager trio who left Dutch rival in ESG row William Blair Investment Management has hired the former head of emerging markets debt at NN Investment Partners, who left along with two members of his team following a disagreement over the Dutch fund manager's enviro

Crypto: U.S. to strictly enforce anti-money laundering rules in cryptocurrencies: FinCEN chief, IRS turns critical eye toward crytpo ATMs, kiosks, Presidential hopeful Andrew Yang plans to regulate crypto industry, Bitcoin traders are finding creative ways to avoid KYC, Swiss Crypto Group expands to Germany, Interest in Bitcoin versus gold surging for all age groups... [more]U.S. to strictly enforce anti-money laundering rules in cryptocurrencies: FinCEN chief From Reuters: The U.S. government will strictly enforce a rule that requires cryptocurrency firms engaged in money service businesses such as digital asset exchanges and wallet service providers to shar

Currency: Manager of $1bn hedge fund bets sterling will rally by another 5%... [more]From Investment Week: The founder of a $1bn hedge fund is betting on a further uptick in sterling relative to the US dollar, following October's 5.3% surge in the currency, which marked the biggest monthly increase since the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis in May 2009. Ben Melkman,

Tech: U.S. investors focus on cybersecurity as data concerns deepen... [more]From WSJ: How good a company is at cybersecurity is joining factors such as greenhouse-gas emissions and directors' pay when it comes to investors evaluating whether or not to buy in. Private-equity firms, asset managers and hedge funds in the U.S. are increasingly looking at companies' cybersecurit

U.S.: Pensions commit record $9.1bn to private equity in September, Wall Street thrills to idea of Michael Bloomberg presidency, Boo-hoo billionaires: Why America's super-wealthy are afraid for 2020... [more]Pensions commit record $9.1bn to private equity in September From PE News: Public pension plans in the US have committed $9.1bn in September to private equity funds, up 64% from $5.6bn in August and a record for the year so far, according to a report by data company eVestment. The amount

Europe: Six charts that lay bare what went wrong for Woodford, Short sellers swarm around Hargreaves Lansdown and St James's Place, London quant managers don't fear the Reaper... [more]Six charts that lay bare what went wrong for Woodford From FT: Neil Woodford went from "the man who can't stop making money" to unleashing Europe's biggest fund management scandal for a decade. Just over five years after overseeing Britain's most successful investment company launch, his

PE/VC: Female-led startups are gaining more ground in venture capital race, China's privately offered funds expand in October, Private equity firms are ready to buy out companies. After Walgreens, here's who might be next... [more]Female-led startups are gaining more ground in venture capital race From Yahoo: Venture capitalists are increasingly gender aware when it comes to funding startups, a new study suggests, and female founders are reaping the rewards. Last year, investment in startups with at least one femal

Study: Worried about negative yields? AQR says they're not a concern... [more]From Institutional Investor: Owning bonds in a low- or negative-yield environment isn't a pointless exercise, according to research from AQR Capital Management. Amid bonds pricing at what the investment firm calls "unprecedented low levels," AQR shared advice with Institutional Investor on how to a

Opinion: Is private debt right for your client?... [more]From Investment Executive: The alternative investment offers higher yields with the trade-off of lower liquidity. As traditional asset classes struggle to generate yield in the current low-rate environment, alternative investments such as private debt could boost your clients' portfolios. Priv

ESG: ESG fund row results in EMD exodus at asset manager, ESG index funds are hot. That may be a risky thing for investors... [more]ESG fund row results in EMD exodus at asset manager From City Wire: NN Investment Partners' emerging markets debt chief Marcelo Assalin has left the firm, along with several portfolio managers in his team following an ESG row. This follows a rift caused by diverging views within the

Legal: U.S. charges another ex-JPMorgan executive with alleged market manipulation... [more]From Reuters: The Department of Justice has charged another former JPMorgan Chase & Co executive with alleged racketeering and manipulating precious metals prices between 2008 and 2016, the latest in a string of similar prosecutions. The indictment against Jeffrey Ruffo, who is also charged w

Activists: Activist investor Edward Bramson keeps Barclays loan, Activist investor takes another bite at Medifast, Fortress plays long game in bidding war for Unizo, lifts offer just a bit, Peace breaks out among activists and their prey... [more]Activist investor Edward Bramson keeps Barclays loan From The Times: Activist investor Edward Bramson has extended a complicated loan deal used to back his stake in Barclays by a year, suggesting he plans to continue his siege. Bramson, 68, who runs Sherborne Investors, has pushed b

News Briefs: Despite Sandy Hook lawsuit, Minneapolis hedge fund bravely backs Remington, Kathie Lee Gifford says she wants to date a 'hedge fund guy' who 'loves Jesus', Boomers want to stay home. Senior housing now faces budding glut... [more]Despite Sandy Hook lawsuit, Minneapolis hedge fund bravely backs Remington From City Pages: You've probably never heard of Whitebox Advisors, and they probably prefer it that way. Though it's got offices on Park Avenue in New York City and in London's West End, among other branches, the h

And, finally: The Entrepreneurial Spirit... [more]From News of the Weird: About a year ago, Les and Paula Ansley of Mossel Bay, South Africa, stumbled upon a novel idea for a new type of spirit, which they call Indlovu Gin, the Associated Press reports. During a safari, they learned that elephants eat a wide variety of fruits and flowers, bu