Legendary investor Stanley Druckenmiller is backing the launch of Castle Hook Partners, headed by two portfolio managers who previously worked for George Soros’ family office, according to Businessinsider.com, citing a report in Hedge Fund Alert. David Rogers and Joshua Donfeld left Soros earlier this year. They plan to focus on long-short equity, credit, commodities, interest rates, and foreign exchange, according to the report. Two other Soros employees will also be joining them: Matt Lentz and Jake Carney. Castle Hook expects to get rolling in the fourth quarter or first quarter of 2017, according to the report. This will no doubt be one of the biggest launches in several years. In fact, in 2014 Druckenmiller, a one-time head trader for Soros, plunked down $1 billion to help launch PointState Capital, founded by former employees of his former hedge fund firm, Duquesne Capital.
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The average hedge fund posted a slight decline of 0.09 percent in May. This trimmed the year-to-date gain to 0.75 percent, according to data tracker eVestment. “Industry returns were divided in May,” eVestment states in its monthly report. “Funds focused on corporate capital structures, particularly in distressed markets, performed well, while macro and managed futures funds generally suffered.” Distressed strategies were the biggest winner in May, gaining 1.76 percent. They are up 2.85 percent for the year.
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Balyasny Asset Management boosted its stake in Bristow Group by more than eight times, to 1.96 million shares, or 5.62 percent of the total outstanding. Bristow Group provides helicopter services to the offshore oil industry. Investors, however, were not too impressed with the disclosure. The stock fell more than 7 percent on Friday.
