Brief: BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said he told President Donald Trump the U.S. needs to spend on infrastructure to generate jobs, as the country navigates the next steps to rescue a coronavirus-addled economy. “I’ve told the U.S. president, and I’ve told this to many other politicians now, that an infrastructure build is really important,” Fink said Thursday in a live-streamed interview with Sergio Rial, CEO of Banco Santander SA’s Brazil unit. The U.S. government has rolled out unprecedented spending to shore up the economy, but business leaders and politicians are already focusing on what new revival efforts should look like. Trump tweeted in March that a $2 trillion infrastructure bill would be a good way to create jobs. Fink also said in the interview that BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, has been talking with central banks in the midst of the dual public health and financial crisis.
Brief: Bain Capital is planning to raise about $9 billion for its next flagship global buyout fund, as the U.S. alternative asset manager seeks to tap demand from yield-hungry investors, people familiar with the matter said. The Boston-based firm has started discussions with new and existing investors about the fund, which it aims to close later this year, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Bain’s last flagship fund closed in 2017 at $9.4 billion, which included $8 billion from investors and another $1.4 billion from the firm’s own partners. Similar internal commitments could increase the eventual size of the new fund by a further 10% to 15%, the people said. Buyout firms have been on a fundraising spree as institutional investors reach for better returns in an environment of low interest rates and poor performance from stock-picking fund managers.
Brief: Europe’s trading and hedge fund firms are calling for a removal of the temporary short selling bans issued in several countries from March, in response to the market volatility triggered by the coronavirus pandemic. The trade bodies calling for the repeal represent hundreds of top firms — including the likes of Citco, Man Group, State Street, Guotai Junan Securities, Citadel Securities Europe, Bridgewater Associates and Marshall Wace — who say a removal of the ban is crucial to improving market efficiency and preventing further damage to investor portfolios as a result of the pandemic Their plea comes after the European Securities and Markets Authority said on 15 April that the short-selling ban would remain across Austria, Belgium, France, Greece and Spain until 18 May, with the possibility of a further extension.
Brief: With the broader hedge fund industry facing multiple challenges around rising costs, squeezed profits, and a shifting regulatory backdrop, the prime brokerage sector will need to juggle future disruptions and sweeping changes in client activity as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. In a new market commentary, Anthony Bennett, head of prime brokerage at Capco, a global technology and management consultancy dedicated to the financial services industry, examined the potentially far-reaching fallout of the Covid-19 crisis on the hedge funds/PB relationship, with future success possibly hinging on the degree of diversification within a PB’s business. Gauging perspectives through recent conversations with leading prime brokers, Bennett suggested primes have largely weathered Q1’s historic volatility and de-risking and “passed the initial tests” of the recent crisis.
Brief: A prominent American hedge fund has emerged among a pack of suitors eyeing a deal to prop up Virgin Atlantic Airways as it races to secure the funds it needs to survive the COVID-19 crisis. Sky News has learnt that New York-based Davidson Kempner Capital Management is one of the prospective investors which held talks with Virgin Atlantic bosses this week. The airline, which is seeking more than £500m in debt and equity funding following a collapse in revenue, wants to stitch together a deal this month. Sources said that Davidson Kempner was on a list of financial investors in discussions with Virgin Atlantic which also includes Apollo Global Management, Cerberus Capital Management and Greybull Capital, the former owner of Monarch Airlines. Davidson Kempner, which manages well over $30bn in assets, is among the hedge funds negotiating a financial restructuring of the US department store chain Neiman Marcus.
Brief: Selwood Asset Management, one of the fastest growing hedge fund firms in London, is enticing new clients with a type of fee structure that hasn’t been seen in the industry since the last financial crisis. The firm will waive its cut of some new clients’ profits until assets in its flagship fund reach their previous peak, a threshold known as the high-water mark, according to people with knowledge of the matter. That means Selwood won’t collect a performance fee until the fund has gained 8%, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Selwood typically charges performance fees ranging from 13.5% to 30% for its main fund. Discounts like this are rare even for existing clients in an industry that’s notorious for charging high fees. Selwood, whose assets have grown to about $3.5 billion from $85 million at its launch in late 2015, is trying to raise as much as $250 million to take advantage of trading opportunities created by the coronavirus sell-off, the people said. New investors will have to lock their money up in the fund for as long as 12 months. A representative of Selwood declined to comment.