ARCH Venture Partners raises $1.46bn across two funds... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Chicago-based ARCH Venture Partners announced two new venture capital funds to invest in early-stage biotech companies with a combined total of $1.46 billion. They are ARCH Venture Fund X and ARCH Venture Fund X Overage. ARCH formed in 1986 and made early investment

Plunge in Global VC funding activity due to coronavirus outbreak... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: The number of venture capital (VC) funding announced deals declined by 22.5% during the week ended March 29, 2020, compared to the previous week, said a study. According to GlobalData, the subdued funding activity has been continuing in the last few weeks and could

Coronavirus Pandemic to cut down private equity's long-term return multiples by 10%... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Private equity funds are expected to face a 10% hit to returns from Coronavirus Pandemic, revealed a study. Simulations for 2020 and 2021 also forecast liquidity stress in the industry, it said. According to a new study by investment analytics company Cepres, the c

Biotech VC firm Flagship Pioneering raises $1.1bn for latest fund amid pandemic... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Massachusetts-based venture capital firm Flagship Pioneering managed to raise $1.1 billion for its seventh "origination fund" to support biotech startups, despite the economy is being disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The VC firm specializing in company creation s

Hedge fund Valiant Capital Management saw risks of coronavirus early. Now it's up 36%, Ex-Goldman partner's new hedge fund up 25% in first two months, Ackman's hedge fund gains 11% in March after recovery bet, BlackRock's $1.7bn Obsidian hedge fund plunged in March as the coronavirus threw fixed-income markets into turmoil, Michael Hintze's main fund faces at least 30% drop in quarter, Cheyne credit fund lost 25% in March on bets hit by coronavirus... [more]Hedge fund Valiant Capital Management saw risks of coronavirus early. Now it's up 36%. From Business Insider: Valiant Capital Management led by Chris Hansen has gained 36% year-to-date through the end of March, before fees, The Wall Street Journal's Juliet Chung reported Thursday, citin

A liquidity crunch for the hedge-fund industry's biggest backers could force redemptions on even top-performing funds... [more]From Business Insider: Hedge funds have, on average, weathered the market turmoil caused by novel coronavirus relatively well - with a few types of funds producing some of their best returns in years. But liquidity crunches at institutional investors like endowments and pensions may mean redemptions

Investors braced for credit crisis in emerging markets... [more]From FT: Investors are bracing themselves for an emerging market credit crisis as the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic hits vulnerable countries and limits their ability to repay debts. Commodity prices have plunged and demand has frozen as the outbreak has spread across the glob

New Launches: CVC closes fifth Asia fund at $4.5bn, Energy Spectrum's PE fund inches closer to $1.3bn target, Ancala Partners taps new $793m fund to back UK care home business Holmleigh, China's Gaocheng secures $300m for debut US dollar fund, William Blair launches emerging markets debt fund for new team amid market turmoil, Ironshield Credit Fund launches on the MontLake UCITS Platform ICAV... [more]CVC closes fifth Asia fund at $4.5bn From AVCJ: CVC Capital Partners has closed its fifth Asia fund at the hard cap of $4.5 billion. The firm said the step up from $3.5 billion for Fund IV reflects an expansion in its regional investment capabilities. The new vehicle, which launch

COVID-19: Coronavirus is unleashing an 'economic shock wave' not felt since the 1930s, hedge fund manager Mark Yusko warns, Institutional investors see a quick turnaround in coronavirus crisis, BVK to keep diversification strategy amid COVID-19 turmoil... [more]Coronavirus is unleashing an 'economic shock wave' not felt since the 1930s, hedge fund manager Mark Yusko warns From CNBC: Hedge fund manager Mark Yusko is telling investors to brace for a nearly once in a lifetime downturn. The Morgan Creek Capital Management CEO and CIO sees the Grea

Atreaus family office gains 11% months after hedge fund shutdown... [more]From Bloomberg: Atreaus Family, a family office started by Todd Edgar after he shut his struggling hedge fund last year, is gaining from the market swings fueled by the coronavirus crisis. The New York-based firm's main money pool rose 10.9% in March, taking year-to-date returns to 9.6%, accor

Institutional Investors: Korea: NPS makes first single-manager hedge fund investment with $810m, Chicago Public School Teachers calls on Macquarie for infrastructure, PGB escapes crisis impact due to put options... [more]Korea: NPS makes first single-manager hedge fund investment with $810m From Korea Investors: The National Pension Service committed about 1 trillion won ($810 million) to four global hedge fund houses in 2019, in its first investment in single-manager hedge funds. For the new mand

Investing: Fund managers see once-in-decade shot in Brazil's iron-ore giant, How the billionaires are investing their capital amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Chanos says he is still 'maximum short' Tesla even with drop in last month... [more]Fund managers see once-in-decade shot in Brazil's iron-ore giant From Bloomberg: Investors have been piling into shares of the world's largest iron-ore producer, touting it as one of the biggest opportunities to emerge from the carnage in Brazilian markets. Vale SA sank to a three

Crypto: Finma takes crypto industry to task, India's crypto investors feel virtual coins are key to more jobs and economic revival, Binance research finds bitcoin correlated to stocks, Crypto regulations in Japan likely to help new market entrants in the long run, Crypto crackdown: Brazil's largest brokerage shutters bitcoin exchange... [more]Finma takes crypto industry to task From Finews: The flurry of activities by the Swiss crypto community has its downsides - at least what concerns the regulatory aspect of it all. The investigations that Finma has launched led to several enforcement procedures, criminal charges and entr

SWF: Sovereign wealth funds under coronavirus stress, Norway's wealth fund lost $114bn in Q1 as stocks crash... [more]Sovereign wealth funds under coronavirus stress From Seeking Alpha: Sovereign funds from oil-producing countries mainly in the Middle East and Africa were estimated to dump up to $225 billion in equities, as plummeting oil prices and the coronavirus pandemic hit state finances. Fo

Europe: Nordic pension funds pragmatic on equity dividends, Europe races to rescue its tech industry as start-ups fight for survival... [more]Nordic pension funds pragmatic on equity dividends From IPE: Major pension funds in the Nordic region are taking a flexible approach to dividend decision-making at companies they invest in, saying they well understand if cash-strapped firms retain shareholder payouts given the COVID-19

Asia: SoftBank's Sprint headache gone but coronavirus adds to migraine, China's VC industry bounces back after coronavirus-induced winter, Hedge fund's big short shows why demand for alt-data is surging... [more]SoftBank's Sprint headache gone but coronavirus adds to migraine From Nikkei: The completed merger between T-Mobile and Sprint lets Japan's SoftBank Group shrug off its struggling U.S. telecom business, but the tech investment company faces an even tougher challenge in the financial mar

PE/VC: Private equity firms are wasting no time in calling capital, Debt-wielding private-equity firms want bailout funds; advocates argue they're undeserving, Private equity steps up push to unlock coronavirus stimulus in the US, Private equity can be the big winner from Covid-19 sell-off... [more]Private equity firms are wasting no time in calling capital From Institutional Investor: Private equity firms are increasingly paying off their subscription lines of credit and calling in commitments from investors, leaving some limited partners worried about liquidity. General pa

Study: Funded status of corporate plans plummets in first quarter, Shadow banking poses challenges for global financial markets in coronavirus crisis - DBRS Morningstar, Buyout funds may be down as much as 20%... [more]Funded status of corporate plans plummets in first quarter From PIonline.com: The dramatic downturn in markets driven by the coronavirus outbreak caused the funded status of corporate plans to drop to the lowest level it's been since 2012, according to reports from Willis Towers Watson

ESG: Where are the ESG hedge funds?, Covid-19 pandemic will drive ESG investing 'skywards': deVere, How ESG ETFs have performed in the sell-off... [more]Where are the ESG hedge funds? From PIonline.com: ESG is one of the fastest-growing categories of asset management. In 2019, investors poured $20.6 billion into funds that incorporate environmental, social and governance factors - a 400% increase over ESG inflows in 2018, boosting the t

Activists: Starboard pushes forward with proxy fight at GCP Applied Technologies, Muddy Waters wins Twitter war with Citron over Luckin, MGM Resorts sagging stock attracts Icahn Protege, company director Keith Meister... [more]Starboard pushes forward with proxy fight at GCP Applied Technologies From Reuters: Activist investor Starboard Value is pushing ahead with a proxy contest at GCP Applied Technologies, arguing that its director nominees would steer the chemical company through the current economic crisi

News Briefs: Nothing can stop this hedge fund soap opera - not even a global pandemic, Refinitiv calls for standardised alternative data ecosystem... [more]Nothing can stop this hedge fund soap opera - not even a global pandemic From Institutional Investor: Hedge funds that play in the rough-and-tumble world of distressed debt are accustomed to using the court system to achieve their ends. These battles often get ugly. For firms in this w

And, finally: Why you shouldn't stream old videos as "Facebook Live"... [more]From BizarreNews: A British comedy club said about 20 police officers responded to the facility to shut-down a live show that actually took place more than two weeks earlier. The owners of the Hot Water Comedy Club in Liverpool, England, said a Facebook Live show featuring comedian Paul Smith h