The Morning Brief: Hedge Funds Among Clinton’s Biggest Backers

Hedge funds have bet big on the high-stakes 2016 presidential election, with their employees pouring $122.7 million into campaign coffers this election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. The Wall Street Journal reports that the lion’s share of that money is backing Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, with some $48.5 million raised for groups backing her campaign. (The top five contributors to groups backing Clinton are employees or owners of private investment funds, according to the report.) By contrast, Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump has garnered just $19,000, according to the report. However, hedge fund employees have given $68.5 million to Republican groups this cycle, with the lion’s share going to candidates who were running against Trump in the primaries. The two biggest contributors from the hedge fund industry are Farallon Capital Management founder and Democrat Tom Steyer, at $31.5 million, and Renaissance Technologies co-CEO and Republican donor Robert Mercer, at $19 million, according to Institutional Investor.

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Outsource CIO firm Partners Capital Investment Group announced it has appointed Colin Pan to the role of chief investment officer. Pan joined the firm in 2010 and was most recently head of manager research, working out of its London office. He will take over CIO responsibilities from co-CEO and firm founder Stan Miranda. The firm, which manages $17 billion, also has offices in Boston. Earlier this month the firm hired Richard Scarinci, most recently from Blackstone Alternative Asset Management, as a partner. The firm also promoted two other longtime employees, Euan Finlay and Brendan Corcoran, to partner.

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Convexity Capital Management, the Boston-based hedge fund firm co-founded by former Harvard Management Company president and CEO Jack Meyer in 2005, has suffered heavy redemptions, according to a Bloomberg report. The fund received more than $1 billion in redemption requests last quarter, according to the report, which cited two people familiar with the matter. Bloomberg puts Convexity’s assets at $6 billion following the redemptions — down from a peak of $15 billion in early 2013 — and reports that its main fund is lagging its benchmark this year by 3.6 percentage points. The firm has posted poor performance in recent years, with Meyer closing the funds to new investment in mid-2013 because it was lagging self-imposed benchmarks.

Richard Scarinci Robert Mercer Euan Finlay Clinton Brendan Corcoran
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