Another key person is bailing out of Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors, Bloomberg reports. This time it is Lia Forcina, who managed more than $700 million from the Stamford, Connecticut firm’s London office. He is moving over to another London hedge fund giant, BlueCrest Capital Management. Forcina is reportedly one of five money managers to have recently left SAC in the U.K., according to a report. SAC, of course, is trying to work out a settlement with the U.S. government stemming from criminal charges over insider trading. The most recent rumor is that the firm is willing to pony up more than $1 billion to make a deal.
—
SS&C GlobeOp said its Forward Redemption Indicator measured 3.36 percent in October, down from 4.21 percent in September. The Indicator represents the sum of forward redemption notices received from investors in hedge funds administered by SS&C GlobeOp on the GlobeOp platform, divided by the assets under administration at the beginning of the month for SS&C GlobeOp fund administration clients. SS&C GlobeOp’s data on the GlobeOp platform represents about 10 percent of the hedge fund industry.
—
A man who claimed to be a hedge fund manager and bilked millions of dollars from victims — including an elderly, disabled widow, who lost her life savings — was sentenced to 100 months in prison. George Sepero, who claimed he had a great, secret computer program to invest in foreign currency, previously pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud conspiracy, wire fraud and tax evasion before Chief U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle in federal court in New Jersey. He had been held in federal custody since July 2012 after violating the conditions of his supervised release. Sepero, along with two others, used a variation of a famous hedge fund name — Caxton Capital Management — to lure their victims (and also used the name ACCP Pro Consulting). Caxton Associates, founded by Bruce Kovner and now run by Andrew Law, had nothing to do with the fraud.
—
Edward Nadel is joining the investment management group of the law firm Lowenstein Sandler as senior counsel. Nadel was previously general counsel and chief compliance officer at Star Mountain Capital and the director of alternative investments at Credit Suisse. The Roseland, New Jersey law firm is known, in part, for its expertise in the alternative investments industry. Nadel will counsel clients on fund formation and structuring, fund transactions, and regulatory and compliance matters.
—
Dan Gold’s QVT Financial disclosed it owns 5.64 percent of Arrowhead Research, a clinical stage therapeutics company. The filing indicated it is a passive position. Last week we reported that Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors disclosed it owns 5.2 percent passive stake in Arrowhead Research.
—
Yikes! J.C. Penney dropped another 8.3 percent, to close at $6.42, after hitting a more than 32-year low of $6.25 earlier in the day. The stock is held by hedge funds including Larry Robbins’ Glenview Capital, Kyle Bass’ Hayman Capital and Richard Perry’s Perry Capital.
—
Daniel Och’s Och-Ziff Capital Management disclosed a 5.14 percent passive stake in SFX Entertainment, the concert and live events promoter that on Monday acquired 100 percent of ID&T, a producer of dance music festivals. The New York City hedge fund firm did not own any shares of SFX at the end of the second quarter.
