Other Voices: Does hedge-fund activism really increase shareholder value?... [more]By: Cydney Posner, Cooley, LLP The public debate about hedge-fund activism has long been informed by academic literature that found increases in shareholder value and operating performance after activist interventions. But do hedge-fund activists actually do any long-term good for the companies

Quantreq launches prime services suite for institutional cryptocurrency hedge fund managers... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Quantreq Capital Markets announced its partnership with blockchain technology developer and engineering firm Cryptonomic to further assist in development, deployment and support of its prime services suite. The cryptocurrency capital markets firm and the crypto fu

With 16.4% return in 2017, Asian family offices outperform global average... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Family offices scored average returns of 15.5% last year, up from 7% in 2016 and 0.3% the prior year, according to UBS Group and Campden Wealth. Asian family offices led the way with a 16.4% return in 2017, fueled by soaring stock markets and private equity, acco

New Launches: Blackrock launches absolute return fund for disruptors, New equity investor Corviglia Capital Fund aims for $500m, Wellington makes Ucits breakthrough with fintech fund, Mackenzie Investments partners with Greenchip Financial to launch new Global Environmental Equity Fund... [more]Blackrock launches absolute return fund for disruptors From International Adviser: Blackrock, the world's largest fund manager, has launched an absolute return fund that will invest in UK companies at an early stage of their life cycle which are expected to experience significant growth.

Performance: Cooperman's Omega posts strong gains in third quarter... [more]From Institutional Investor: In its final client letter, the firm said it is looking for extended gains in the stock market over the next 12 to 15 months. Leon Cooperman's flagship fund posted a big gain in the third quarter, one of the last that his hedge fund firm Omega Advisors will continue

Facebook shareholders back proposal to remove Mark Zuckerberg as chairman, Zuckerberg, Soros and Steyer spend millions on out-of-state ballot initiatives... [more]Facebook shareholders back proposal to remove Mark Zuckerberg as chairman From Reuters: Four major U.S. public funds that hold shares in Facebook Inc on Wednesday proposed removing Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg as chairman following several high-profile scandals and said they h

Institutional Investors: Kern County Employees redeems investments in 2 hedge funds, Funded ratio for corporate pensions hits 10-year high... [more]Kern County Employees redeems investments in 2 hedge funds From PIonline.com: Kern County Employees' Retirement Association, Bakersfield, Calif., made full redemptions from hedge funds managed by Carlson Capital Management and Menta Capital as part of an effort to reduce the number of hed

Investing: Billionaire Leon Cooperman explains how he ended up investing his personal money in pot stocks, U.S. fund investors pull most cash from bonds since February -ICI... [more]Billionaire Leon Cooperman explains how he ended up investing his personal money in pot stocks From CNBC: Billionaire hedge fund investor Leon Cooperman confirmed to CNBC on Wednesday that he has personal money in the cannabis industry, noting investments in a few young marijuana companie

People: Hutchin Hill founder recruiting quants to join his new team at Millennium, Barclays strengthens London team with two new hires, UBS hires Unilever's in-house sustainability expert, Amundi appoints head of third party distribution UK... [more]Hutchin Hill founder recruiting quants to join his new team at Millennium From eFinancial Careers: It's been about two months since Neil Chriss, founder of recently-defunct hedge fund Hutchin Hill Capital, announced his intention to partner with Millennium Management to build out a new qu

Crypto: Goldman alumni still think they can fix Wall Street with crypto, DTCC shows private blockchain can handle US equity trade volumes, Centralized cryptocurrencies dominate market, but what about bitcoin?, Canadian firm to build blockchain-based supply chain platform for cannabis industry... [more]Goldman alumni still think they can fix Wall Street with crypto From Bloomberg: Inside Manhattan's Harvard Club, across the room from a mounted elephant head, sitting beneath a chandelier, with lions on his tie, Arya Bolurfrushan was giddy about his plan for a new digital-coin fund.

Edward Lampert, the hedge-fund star who bet on Sears, is unrepentant... [more]From WSJ: He made billions for investors in his ESL Investments fund by bucking naysayers. At the storied American retailer, his instincts proved wrong. A day after Sears Holdings Corp. filed for bankruptcy protection, the hedge-fund manager who bet his career on the retailer addressed nearly 1,000

Asia: Asia-based fund groups struggle in Europe, China blacklists former AC Milan owner over unpaid debt... [more]Asia-based fund groups struggle in Europe From International Adviser: Asian asset managers find European expansion challenging in the face of intense competition. A raft of Asia-based asset managers have expanded into Europe in recent years but many have met with scant success, accordin

Banking and finance: Santander latest target in Germany's giant fraud probe, Risk of bank-like regulation fades for big financial firms, US threatens to bar EU banks from exchanges... [more]Santander latest target in Germany's giant fraud probe From Reuters: Spain's Santander is the latest bank to be caught up in Germany's biggest post-war fraud investigation involving a share-trading scheme that the authorities say cost taxpayers billions of euros. In June, prosecuto

Legal: Toronto hedge fund K2 & Associates accused of 'manipulative trading'... [more]From Financial Post: An investment fund manager and two of its principals are seeking a settlement with the Ontario Securities Commission to resolve allegations of "manipulative trading activity."Representatives for K2 & Associates, Shawn Kimel, and Daniel Gosselin will appear Friday before a panel

Activists: Seahawks might get a new owner, but they're not leaving Seattle, Campbell heirs to vote for own board, Third Point calls move a "stunt", In big blow to activist Third Point, Campbell heirs to stand with company... [more]Seahawks might get a new owner, but they're not leaving Seattle From NY Daily News: There would be plenty of buyer interest in the Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers if either goes up for sale, but there are no actual reasons to relocate those teams, two specialists in franchise acquisit

News Briefs: The Titanic's legacy is likely to belong to hedge funds soon, The back channel that can get you a hedge fund job at Point72... [more]The Titanic's legacy is likely to belong to hedge funds soon From NY Times: Salvaged artifacts have been the focus of a tussle over who gets to own a part of the ocean liner's history. They're worth $19.5 million, at least. Some of the richest people in the world lost everything when the

And, finally: Leslie Nielsen live in Belgium... [more]From BizarreNews: In what could be a scene from a Leslie Nielsen movie, the crew servicing an F-16 fighter jet at a Belgian military air base accidentally triggering the heavy aircraft cannon, firing across the flight line and hitting two other parked jets. Multiple reports indicate that a mechan