Scott Bessent, the guy who managed George Soros’s wealth for several years and headed one of his funds back in the 1990s, raised about $4.5 billion for his new macro hedge fund firm, Key Square Group, according to Bloomberg. Bessent already started trading $2 billion that he received from Soros and looks to get to the $4.5 billion mark by the end of the quarter. This is one of the largest fundraisings in hedge fund history.
It also now shines the spotlight on Feroz Dewan, the former partner at Tiger Global Management who ran the hedge funds and long-only funds for Chase Coleman’s New York-based firm. Dewan left the firm at the end of June after 12 years and is widely expected to launch his own fund later this year.
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Nevsky Capital is the latest hedge fund firm to close down. The London-based firm’s $1.5 billion fund, managed by Martin Taylor and Nick Barnes, was down 0.9 percent through November, according to a Bloomberg report. The fund lost 1.4 percent in 2014 after gaining 18.1 percent the previous year, according to the report.
“We have come regretfully to the conclusion that the current algorithmically driven market environment is one which is increasingly incompatible with our fundamental, research orientated, investment process,” Taylor reportedly said in a statement. “The bear market in emerging market equities, which began in 2011, may eventually engulf developed markets too.” Other firms that recently decided to shut down or return outside capital include BlueCrest Capital Management, SAB Capital Management and Seneca Capital.
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It’s official: William Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital Management’s hedge funds finished 2015 down 20.5 percent, their worst year since the New York firm’s 2003 founding.
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New York-based Och-Ziff Capital Management Group’s flagship multistrategy fund finished 2015 slightly in negative territory. The OZ Master Fund slid by 0.22 percent in December, putting it down 0.28 percent for the year. The firm’s other two main funds fared much better. For example, OZ Asia Master Fund rose 2.22 percent last month and finished the year up 9.64 percent, while OZ Europe Master Fund rose 0.46 percent in December and was up 5.89 percent for the year. As of January 1, the firm founded by Daniel Och had $44.6 billion under management, “essentially unchanged” from December 1, according to a regulatory filing.
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The Brink’s Company reached a settlement with New York activist firm Starboard Value. Under the deal, the security company named three new directors to its board, including Peter Feld, research director for Starboard. Two incumbent directors agreed to retire. In addition, Brink’s said chairman, president and chief executive officer Thomas Schievelbein will retire, effective as of the date of the company’s 2016 annual meeting. A search for a replacement will be overseen by the corporate governance and nominating committee, which will be chaired by Feld. In addition, the board will elect a non-executive chairman — mutually agreeable to Starboard and Brink’s — among the independent members of a reconstituted board.
