News
Each day, DailyAlts tracks major developments across the alternative investment world. Our content is procured from primary contacts in the industry and secondary sources across the web. Our goal is to give readers the most up-to-date news and engaging experience to open new doors and areas of knowledge. Our stories cover nine separate verticals of the alternative investment industry.
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Canadian Pensions Home in on Lucrative Indian Private Debt
A lending crisis has opened up profitable opportunities to lend to Indian performing companies.
The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, may deploy up to $1.5 billion in Indian private credit.
SEC Blocks NYSE Bid for Direct Listings
What are direct listings? They are not allowed by the SEC at the New York Stock Exchange. Direct listings allow firms to engage in the public equity markets without selling new shares. The process also carries fewer listing fees and restrictions.
Alexion Pharmaceuticals Rejects Elliott Demand for “Proactive Sale”
Alexion Pharmaceuticals will not obey Elliott Management’s demand for a “proactive sale.” The company says that the process of seeking a buyer doesn’t suit shareholder interest. The biotech firm has worked to maintain control of its market share for drugs treating rare blood disorders. Following news that it would not engage in a sales process, the firm’s stock popped on Friday.
Virtus Capital President: Market Could Fall 50% If This Happens
Virtus Capital managing partner Steven Gidumal warned that markets could tank should America elect Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren or Pete Buttigieg.
“If a Socialist is Elected, the Market will sell off BIG,” Gidumal said, according to CNBC. “Pick a Socialist – Bernie, Liz, Pete. etc. and the Market would sell off.”
Steve Cohen Looks to Boost Stake As MLB Team Owner
As uber-rich private equity and hedge fund billionaires are homing in on sports franchises, Steve Cohen is negotiating to up his current 8% stake in the Mets to 80%. Cohen paid $20 million for that stake in 2012.
LPL Wades Into Pricing Wars; Axes Platform Fees on ETFs for Advisors
LPL Financial launched a no-transaction-fee, ETF network where advisors can trade ETF’s for free in their advisory accounts.
LPL Financial partnered with three leading ETF providers – State Street Global Advisors, Invesco and WisdomTree to offer the zero fee service from December 6.
Goldman’s Private Equity Clients All Fear a Recession
Goldman Sachs clients are hunkering down for a recession, but are still looking for multi-billion dollar investment opportunities.
Speaking on a Bloomberg interview, Alison Mass, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s chairman of investment banking, said: “Our clients are looking to put large amounts of capital to work.”
She added that 30 billion dollar deals were doable – even as high as $80 billion if a strategic partner came in alongside the PE firm.
But what about the risk of a recession?
SIFMA: US Economy Will Expand in 2020 But at a Moderate Pace
SIFMA’s bi-annual survey compiles economic focus from its Roundtable members, the chief US economists of over 20 global and regional financial institutions. SIFMA’s 2019 End-Year US Economic Survey forecasts US GDP growth for 2020 at 1.8%, down 0.1% from the June Survey. “Despite the markdown in 2020 GDP growth, the economy still expected to expand at a moderate pace,” said Ellen Zentner, a Managing Director and Chief U.S. Economist for Morgan Stanley. She is also the chair of SIFMA’s Economic Advisory Roundtable.
Rivulet Capital Opposes Thoma Bravo Purchase of Instructure
Rivulet Capital has said it will vote against Thoma Bravo’s purchase of educational software giant Instructure. The firm – which owns 5.23% of Instructure – announced its intention in a regulatory filing.
Global Blockchain Business Council: Asset Managers Still Don’t Get Blockchain
The Global Blockchain Business Council and Janus Henderson Investors have released a new survey this week. The two firms reveal that executives at asset management firms still struggle to understand blockchain technology. The groups interviewed 50 buy-side organizations. From that survey, just 24% of respondents stated that they had an above-average knowledge of blockchain technology.
Apollo Global Management Expands Japan Operations, Appoints Partner
Apollo Global Management is expanding its private equity business in Japan. The firm has also appointed Tetsuji Okamoto as a Partner, Head of Japan, to lead its efforts. His role will center around originating and executing new deals and identifying cross-platform ideas.
Hedge Funds Are Buying Oil Contracts – Have You Noticed?
Hedge funds and oil prices aren’t like water and oil. Just two weeks after hedge funds sold off after an oil rally, they’re buying oil contracts once again. Reuters’ John Kemp notes that portfolio managers have been buying a lot of oil recently.
The Illinois Pension Crisis Goes from Bad to Worse
The Illinois pension crisis just got much worse. According to reports, the state’s unfunded pension liabilities jumped $3.8 billion to $137.3 billion at the end of the fiscal year 2019. The deficit comes despite the fact that the state recorded record taxpayer contributions.
Pershing Square Capital Boosts Stake In Howard Hughes
Pershing Square Capital Management has increased its stake in Howard Hughes Corp., according to an S-4 filing with the SEC. Activist hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and his firm announced the increase on Wednesday.
Prescott Group Closes Strategies Fund I at $63.4 Million
Prescott Group announced the closing of its first real estate private equity fund. The Prescott Strategies Fund I closed with a total commitment of $63.4 million. The Fund will invest in both real estate-related debt and equity positions. It will also focus on distressed and value add investments.
Canadian Listed ETF Assets Race Past the $200B Mark
Canadian ETFs have put on a powerhouse performance this year, crossing the $200 billion mark by end November.
Black Tuesday: Banks on Both Sides of the Atlantic Announce Major Job Cuts
Black Tuesday: Banks on Both Sides of the Atlantic Announce Major Job Cuts. On Tuesday, December 3, Unicredit, Italy’s largest lender, said it planned to cut 8,000 bank jobs as part of a strategic, four-year restructuring plan. The same day, the Bank of Montréal announced the deepest job cuts in the Canadian banking industry in years. It said it would cut 5% of its workforce, or about 2,300 jobs.
Mark Wiseman Out at BlackRock
Mark Wiseman found himself in the running to replace BlackRock Chief Larry Fink. Now he finds himself out of a job. Multiple media outlets report that Wiseman allegedly violated BlackRock’s “relationships at work policy.”
CBRE Talks U.S. Net-Lease Investment for the Third Quarter
CBRE, the global real estate investment and advisory firm, released the third quarter U.S. Net-Lease Investment Report.
Liability Mismatch Strikes Again: £2.5 Billion M&G Property Fund in the U.K. Suspended
Is the Woodford Income Fund saga in replay? Property or unlisted shares – both are hard to sell.
M&G Investments suspended dealings in its £2.5 billion M&G Property Portfolio with effect from midday on Wednesday due to sustained redemption pressure.
CalPERS Fires External Equity Managers For Long-Term Underperformance
CalPERS, the largest pension system in the US, just took a scalpel to funds allocated to external equity managers.
In a major restructuring of its investment process, CalPERS slashed allocations to external equity managers from $33.6 million to $5.5 million. Only three out of 17 external managers survived the purge, according to an exclusive report by Chief Investment Officer.
Further, the pension fund restructured its emerging managers’ program, docking its allocation from $3.6 billion to just $500 million. Only one out of the five emerging managers stayed on.
Natixis Investment Managers Survey Shows Shift To Private Investments
Natixis Investment Managers has released the results of its survey of investment managers this week.
Natixis surveyed 500 institutional investors, who collectively manage more than $15 trillion in assets. These respondents manage money for pensions, insurers, sovereign wealth funds, foundations and endowments all over the world. The survey measures the investment community’s outlook and concerns for the next year. The key finding in the report is that increased volatility is the top portfolio concern of many investment managers. Most managers see no relief in sight from trade and low yield risks.
Real Estate: Ashford Hospitality Trust Sells 102-room SpringHill Suites Jacksonville
Ashford Hospitality Trust announced the sale of the 102-room SpringHill Suites Jacksonville in Jacksonville, Florida for $11.2 million.
That price works out to be $109,000 per key. The sales price represents a trailing twelve-month cap rate of 5.9% on net operating income. The deal had a 14.3x Hotel EBITDA multiple.
“Activist Wolf Packs” Could Close in on European ESG Laggards
The A&M Activist Alert is an analysis and predictor of shareholder activism in Europe. A&M used ESG ratings by Refinitiv of 1,300 European companies to segregate them into a ranking of four quartiles. Going back to 2017, A&M looked at each quartile to determine how many of its companies faced an activist attack. A total of 62% of activist targets across Europe since 2017 fall into the bottom two ESG quartiles, observed the study. Companies in these groups are, on average, 24% more likely to face an activist campaign.