Opalesque Exclusive: Dalton led investor group pushes for change in South Korean equities... [more]Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: An investor group led by Dalton Investments and including Brandes Investment Partners, KCGI, Value Partners and Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb is pushing for change at big South Korean corporates. The group is urging the Korean national pension and the Government of

The flaw of lumping hedge funds together: Macro, credit and relative value actually posted gains in 2018... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: The negative returns for the hedge fund industry as a whole in 2018 have masked an improvement in the overall environment for the asset class. While equity strategies funds did experience losses for the year, macro, credit and relative value strategies all made ga

Pantera Capital raises $125m for new venture fund... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Pantera Capital, an investment firm focused on blockchain and digital currencies, has recently successfully raised over $125 million for its third venture fund. The fund is set to invest in companies that have been in the crypto space for a while, instead of focusin

SS&C poaches Citco CIO for hedge fund admin business... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: SS&C Technologies Holdings has appointed Joseph Maxwell as technology head of SS&C GlobeOp's hedge fund administration group, to lead the firm's hedge fund technology and fund administration business. Maxwell is from rival fund administrator Citco, where he

The rise of emerging markets hedge funds... [more]Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: Emerging Markets hedge funds, including China, Latin America and Russia-focused funds, surged to begin 2019, with the "risk on" sentiment representing a sharp contrast from late 2018 and reversing steep losses from 4Q. According to the newly released HFR Asian Hedg

Third Point claims 300% return on activism since 2011... [more]From Reuters: Pushing companies to perform better has earned Third Point a 300 percent return in the last eight years, the hedge fund told investors in a letter on Thursday, praising management at some of its targets for taking the right steps. The $14 billion firm, run by Daniel Loeb, lost 11.3

New Launches: Asset management giant IDFC launches equity hedge tactical fund 'IDFC India', MPM Capital raises $400m for bioventure fund... [more]Asset management giant IDFC launches equity hedge tactical fund 'IDFC India' From Zeebiz: Asset Management Company (AMC) IDFC on Februry 21 announced the launch of IDFC India Equity Hedge - Tactical Fund, an AIF Category III offering. The fund will follow a Tactical Long or Short E

Investing: The best-performing hedge funds are buying Yelp, Adobe and these other stocks, Hedge funds hold smallest slice of stock market since 2012, Mysterious 8,500% stock gain attracts big funds (and big questions), Hedge fund's buy dip in tech stocks: Follow them with ETFs?, Nomura invests in Brevan Howard venture so robots can price trades... [more]The best-performing hedge funds are buying Yelp, Adobe and these other stocks From CNBC: In the hedge fund industry, much of the attention is given to big names such as David Einhorn and Bill Ackman, but some smaller, lesser-known fund managers have been better at picking stocks over the

Institutional Investors: US public pension assets tumble in Q4, Korea Post plans to commit $200m to two distressed debt funds, San Diego City chooses MetLife for real estate... [more]US public pension assets tumble in Q4 From CIO: Aggregate investment losses of 6.39% led to a $306 billion loss in funding for the 100 largest public defined benefit pension plans in the US during the fourth quarter of 2018, which was the largest quarterly funding decrease in more than tw

People: Bruno Schroder, scion of wealth management industry, dies, Aztec bolsters team... [more]Bruno Schroder, scion of wealth management industry, dies From Investment Europe: Schroders, the UK-based wealth and asset manager, announce today that Bruno Schroder, the company's long-serving non-executive director, has died. Bruno Schroder, who died on Wednesday at the age of 86, was

Crypto: Cryptocurrency companies use 'backdoor' listings to ease into mainstream, Deutsche BÖrse might launch crypto derivatives trading at Eurex, University of Michigan endowment backs crypto venture capital fund, Major European derivatives exchange to launch cryptocurrency futures... [more]Cryptocurrency companies use 'backdoor' listings to ease into mainstream From Reuters: Several cryptocurrency exchanges have moved closer to mainstream markets by buying listed companies, looking to raise funds and present themselves as embedded in the traditional financial service

U.S.: The senator vs. the hedge fund, U.S.-based leveraged loan funds extend cash withdrawals: Lipper... [more]The senator vs. the hedge fund From Institutional Investor: U.S. Senator Charles Schumer is pressing hedge fund firm Alden Global Capital for more details about its proposed purchase of newspaper company Gannett Co., expressing concern the deal may be detrimental to the media business.

Europe: Hedge funds get burned in the Paris suburbs, Brexit: For Wall Street banks in London, it's moving time... [more]Hedge funds get burned in the Paris suburbs From Bloomberg: When a company's stock is heavily shorted and the bonds yield nearly 20 percent, even a modest amount of good news can set off a giant relief rally. Vallourec SA, a supplier of steel tubes to the oil and gas industry, is a case i

Asia: Money returns to Asian emerging markets as fears fade, Can venture capital keep up as startups embrace Asia's wealthy families?, Asia becomes a corporate venture capital powerhouse, may overtake North America... [more]Money returns to Asian emerging markets as fears fade From Nikkei: Investors are pouring money back into emerging markets in Asia and elsewhere as hopes rise that the U.S. will hold off raising interest rates and come to a trade agreement with China. But many investors remain nervous as a

A $3tn tsunami is about to flood the stock market, warns fund manager... [more]From Market Watch: Will Nasgovitz, who oversees about $1.3 billion in assets as the chief executive of Heartland Advisors, isn't calling for a "full-blown financial crisis," but, with trillions in corporate debt coming due in the coming years, the industry veteran's not exactly predicting smooth sai

Activists: Starboard plots board coup after buying into Bristol-Myers in lead-up to Celgene buyout vote, Activist fund Cat Rock says investors back calls for Just Eat to pursue merger, Schumer questions hedge fund president over proposed Gannett purchase... [more]Starboard plots board coup after buying into Bristol-Myers in lead-up to Celgene buyout vote Activist investor Jeff Smith inserted himself into the M&A dance between Bristol-Myers Squibb and Celgene at the beginning of this month, when Bloomberg reported that his hedge fund, Starboard Val

News Briefs: How to become rich like Karl Lagerfeld, Bloomberg is diving into into the booming alternative data field, Soros and publisher buy Poland's No. 2 radio station, SocGen quant shows why you should short volatility when growth goes bad... [more]How to become rich like Karl Lagerfeld From Market Watch: The death this week of fashion legend Karl Lagerfeld belongs on the fashion and lifestyle pages, not the financial pages - right? After all, Lagerfeld was a well-heeled European fashion designer. He wore a pony-tail and hung out wi

And, finally: Follow your instincts... [more]From UPI: A New Jersey man who bought his lottery ticket at the last possible minute found it was perfect timing when he won a $1 million jackpot. Ryan Seiler of North Plainfield told New Jersey Lottery officials he decided to buy a few Powerball tickets Saturday, when the jackpot reached $260 milli