Scale Venture Partners raises $600m for the seventh fund... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: The California firm Scale Venture Partners has raised $600m for its seventh early-stage technology fund - Scale Venture Partners Fund VII. The Silicon Valley-based venture firm said in a press release that the fund, which was strongly supported by existing and new

Allocations to ESG assets to double to 37% by 2025... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Investors plan to double their sustainable assets in the next five years, rising from 18% of assets under management on average today to 37% by 2025, said a survey. According to BlackRock's Global Client Sustainable Investing Survey of the asset manager, 20% of its

Hedge funds 'renaissance' year... [more]The hedge fund industry is poised to post one of its strongest years since the global financial crisis, according to Goldman Sachs' Tony Pasquariello, global head of hedge fund coverage for the Global Markets Division, who explained the drivers behind the performance and the outlook for 2021. A

Loeb's Third Point funds gain in November, up double-digits YTD, $30bn Lone Pine is reaping huge gains in 2020, Alan Howard, the super-secret macro trader... [more] Loeb's Third Point funds gain in November, up double-digits YTD From Reuters: Daniel Loeb's Third Point LLC funds posted strong gains in November to extend year-to-date returns into the double digits after the billionaire investor overhauled his portfolio and the firm a few months ago.

Five reasons why Special Situations outlook is brightening... [more]From Lyxor: Special Situations strategies have been under pressure in 2020, both on their event and credit arbitrage books. Due to their long structural market beta, managers have underperformed early this year. They have retraced most but not all their lost ground. Deep value oriented, they hav

New Launches: Bling Capital closes second fund, adding to venture's banner year, Nordea AM focuses on 'overlooked' social factors in latest thematic launch, Spire Capital collects $291.55m for fourth fund, Health tech venture firm OTV closes new $170m fund... [more] Bling Capital closes second fund, adding to venture's banner year From WSJ: Bling Capital closed its second venture-capital fund, a roughly $113 million vehicle focused on seed financings for software startups. Bling Capital Fund II LP will target sectors including consumer, financ

L&G shutters UK equity fund after failed value test... [more]From City Wire: L&G has shut its UK Alpha Trust after judging earlier this year that the fund was the only one in its line-up that failed to offer value to its investors. The £49m UK Alpha Trust had severely underperformed its sector average over one, three, five and ten years. More:

Institutional Investors: PennSERS to put up to $127m in 3 funds, MassPRIM adds to 4 alts funds, Alaska places up to $100m into secondary PE fund, Korea Post seeks managers for $200m overseas direct lending mandate, Texas County & District commits $75m to private equity fund... [more] PennSERS to put up to $127m in 3 funds From PIonline.com: Pennsylvania State Employees' Retirement System, Harrisburg, committed a total of up to $127 million to three alternatives funds, the $32 billion pension plan announced. At its Wednesday meeting, the PennSERS board committed

Nomura quant warns trend followers may ditch all treasury longs... [more]From Bloomberg: Quant investors who typically ride the momentum of markets around the world are ditching Treasuries, raising the risk of another spike in yields on the world's benchmark bond. After liquidating 65% of long Treasury bets since August, systematic players known as Commodity Trading

Investing: Jim Chanos says he has slashed his short position against Tesla, Hedge fund Man Group buys 227 modular homes, Warren Buffett's NetJets and Brooks Running cash in on pandemic-fueled demand for private jets and running shoes, Cruise stocks surge after Bank of America lifts price targets on vaccine hopes... [more] Jim Chanos says he has slashed his short position against Tesla From NY Post: Five years into his crusade against Tesla's stock price, Jim Chanos is licking his wounds - and finally tipping his hat to Elon Musk. The 63-year-old short seller admitted on Thursday he has slashed the s

Point72 quant consolidation spurs Matthew Granade's departure... [more]From Bloomberg: Steven Cohen is consolidating the systematic operations of his $19 billion hedge fund firm and one of its most prominent executives will exit after five years. Cohen is moving his Fusion quantitative portfolio into Point72 Asset Management's computer trading business, Cubist Sys

SPACs: These SPAC Honchos are back after Third Point deal, SPAC vs traditional IPO: Investors see benefits of blank-check companies, Private equity firm Thoma Bravo raising blank-check acquisition vehicle... [more] These SPAC Honchos are back after Third Point deal From Institutional Investor: The executives who led Far Point Acquisition Corp., the blank-check company sponsored by Third Point that faced merger challenges in the pandemic, have taken another special purpose acquisition company publ

People: Goldman Sachs taps Flynn, Mallory to head private wealth management, Invesco high yield and multi-sector credit CIO exits, Barings taps head of Asia equities to lead new Singapore office, Rees-Mogg's hedge fund business partner handed senior trade role, Insight Investment names new Europe CEO... [more] Goldman Sachs taps Flynn, Mallory to head private wealth management From Barrons: Goldman Sachs has appointed Meena Flynn and John Mallory as the new co-heads of global private wealth management, which caters to ultrawealthy individuals and families, as well as foundations and endowme

Commodity: Oil sees quiet bull market as hedge funds pile in... [more]From Fox: Sometimes it's the quiet bull that can turn out to be the most dangerous. While the world was worried about COVID-19 lockdowns and oil demand destruction behind the scenes, we have had a quiet oil bull market. With recent developments globally, the days of low oil and gas prices may soon c

Crypto: S&P Dow Jones Indices to launch cryptocurrency indexes in 2021, Analysts say surging Bitcoin whale inflows heighten chance of BTC correction, Legacy German bank to start a crypto fund next year, Bitcoin price to hit $36,000 in 2021: Kraken crypto sentiment survey, Why North American investors are gobbling up booming bitcoin... [more] S&P Dow Jones Indices to launch cryptocurrency indexes in 2021 From Reuters: S&P Dow Jones Indices, a division of financial data provider S&P Global Inc, said on Thursday that it will launch cryptocurrency indices in 2021, making it the latest major finance company to enter the nascent

Currency: China's digital currency ambitions lead the world... [more]From Caoxin Global: While most of the world's governments are still focused on defeating the novel coronavirus that's plunged the global economy into its worst slump since the Great Depression of the 1930s, central bankers are gearing up to tackle what could become one of the biggest financial chall

Tech: IBM uncovers global phishing campaign targeting the COVID-19 vaccine cold chain... [more]At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, IBM Security X-Force created a threat intelligence task force dedicated to tracking down COVID-19 cyber threats against organizations that are keeping the vaccine supply chain moving. "As part of these efforts, our team recently uncovered a global phishing

Europe: Investors shun UK-focused funds, 2020 a turbulent year for U.K. private equity... [more] Investors shun UK-focused funds From Funds Europe: UK funds remain out of favour among investors based on recently published fund performance figures. These are the findings of UK investment platform Willis Owen which presented its best and worst performing funds, sectors and markets o

Middle East: Saudi Arabia's wealth fund plans to raise $7bn to plow into new investments, Africa's top pension fund backs scandal-ridden money manager... [more] Saudi Arabia's wealth fund plans to raise $7bn to plow into new investments From Business Insider: Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which is among the largest in the world, seeks to raise $7 billion in loans for new investments. This would be the third time the sovereign wealth f

Asia: How Covid has affected Asia's high-net worth investors, Japan pulls out all policy stops in hunt for Asia financial talent, India's super-rich are getting much richer, Rash of bond defaults tests China's fixed income fund market... [more] How Covid has affected Asia's high-net worth investors From Asian Investor: The disease did not greatly impact the investing habits of the ultra-rich, but is driving them to consider more investing guidance, sustainability and succession planning, says a new study. Asia's ultra-hig

Study: Three-fourths of investors prioritize protection over performance as a goal for their financial portfolios, Equity strength surges corporate plan funding in November... [more] Three-fourths of investors prioritize protection over performance as a goal for their financial portfolios This issue of The Cerulli Edge-U.S. Monthly Product Trends analyzes mutual fund and exchange-traded fund (ETF) product trends as of October 2020, explores asset managers' increase

Opinion: Ignore the 'top callers,' there's still 'easy money' to be made this year, hedge-fund manager says... [more]From Market Watch: Thomas Hayes of Great Hill Capital has been bombarded lately with questions from skittish investors wanting to know if a correction is going to get in the way of a December rally. In a word: No. "There will be no Grinch! Santa Claus is coming to town," he wrote in a blog post

ESG: Netherlands: Pension assets significantly reduce inequality, Is China finally starting to rise to the ESG challenge?, Sustainable investing is in vogue among wealthy Asians... [more] Netherlands: Pension assets significantly reduce inequality From IPE: The large amounts of pension savings across the Dutch working population significantly reduce inequality, the country's statistics agency CBS has found. If pension assets were to be included in total household as

Legal: Securities litigation increases globally, says Dechert, Prosecutors urge 2nd Circuit to restore ex-hedge fund executives' convictions... [more] Securities litigation increases globally, says Dechert Pandemic-related events have formed the basis for numerous securities litigation filings since March of this year. The U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform recently petitioned the SEC urging it to exercise its authority to prote

Regulatory: SEC's fintech wing leaves the nest, becoming stand-alone office, Dutch pension regulator makes switch to data-driven supervision... [more] SEC's fintech wing leaves the nest, becoming stand-alone office The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that the SEC's Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial Technology, commonly referred to as FinHub, will become a stand-alone office. Valerie A. Szczepanik will cont

News Briefs: Could the 'China hustle' law end the big short?, New routes into quant and data jobs at top trading firms, hedge funds, Chinese firms scour Latin America for bargain deals after slump... [more] Could the 'China hustle' law end the big short? From Institutional Investor: Soon there may be fewer alleged Chinese frauds listed on U.S. exchanges that short-sellers can drool over. But Dan David, the short-seller who lobbied Congress for years in an effort to kick such companies out

And, finally: What you should know about hand sanitizer... [more]From Boston25: College student Benjamin LaRose of Millis, Massachusetts, is recovering from third-degree burns he suffered at an outdoor party with friends this fall when someone used hand sanitizer as an accelerant in the fire pit they were gathered around, Boston25 reported. "It was rather sudden