Morning Brief: Chinese Hedge Funds Posted Top 2017 Gains

Six Chinese funds soared last year between 28 percent and 49 percent, making HSBC’s top 20 list.

No wonder hedge funds like Bridgewater Associates are clamoring to get into the Chinese hedge fund market. Last year, six of the top 20 performing hedge funds were invested in China, according to a weekly HSBC report on hedge funds.

In its last weekly report of 2017, HSBC said that Golden China Fund was up 48.91 percent through December 15. Telligent Greater China Fund gained 45.30 percent through November; Guam China Focus Segregated Portfolio rose 43.51 percent through December 22; Pinpoint China Fund Class A was up 33.34 percent through December 15; Mandarin Offshore Fund gained 32.65 percent through December 15; and Zeal China Fund rose 29.38 percent through December 15, the report shows.

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BlockTower Capital, one of almost 100 new digital currency hedge funds, has hired former Goldman Sachs Group executive Michael Bucella as global head of strategic partnerships and business development. Bucella had been at Goldman since 2008, according to a January 4 statement from BlockTower announcing the hire.

The firm was founded by former Goldman Sachs executive Matthew Goetz and Ari Paul, who was formerly a portfolio manager at the University of Chicago’s endowment and a trader at Susquehanna International. Goetz is BlockTower’s CEO and Paul is CIO. The firm confirmed that it has raised $140 million. Bloomberg first reported the fundraising sum, citing people familiar with the matter.

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Cambridge Analytica, the data and analytics firm backed by former Renaissance Technologies co-CEO Robert Mercer, is being dragged into the Senate probe over President Trump’s ties to Russia, according to a January 3 report by Newsweek. On Wednesday, Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, requested information about Cambridge Analytica, Newsweek reported.

The Judiciary Committee is investigating the Trump campaign’s links to Russia. Mercer was a key Trump backer during the election, bringing Steve Bannon and KellyAnne Conway to the campaign. Bannon was on the board of directors of Cambridge Analytica before he went to work in the White House.

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Soros Fund Management has taken a 7.78 percent passive stake in ServiceSource International, through a combination of common shares and convertible notes, according to a regulatory filing.
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Corporate tax cuts and low interest rates make Appaloosa Management’s David Tepper as bullish on the stock market as he was a year ago, according to a CNBC report Thursday. “Explain to me where this market is rich? It’s not rich with the tax thing that just changed earnings projections. With earnings forecasts going up and interest rates where they are, how is this market expensive? I don’t see the overvaluation. World growth is higher,” Tepper said in a phone interview with CNBC.