Welcome to our #99 weekly newsletter.
“For women taking control of their financial future”
-Jana Hlistova
From The Purse
In this week’s newsletter, we focus on activist investors leading hedge funds in pushing women on boards, women-led hedge funds and women setting up VC funds to address the female market.
And don’t forget to listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Ann Badillo. We talk about Ann’s investing experience in Portfolia (US) which is a venture capital firm that is founded by women, for women.
And you can review the news in brief so you stay on top of global financial, economic and investing trends.
I hope you enjoy this week’s newsletter.
Until next week,
Jana
Activist investors and women-led hedge funds
ESG investing is gaining prominence with investors
There is a reason why investors Elliot Management Corp and Ancora Advisors LLC led activist hedge funds were pushing for women to join corporate boards last year:
women in leadership drives outperformance.
Last week, Angela Atherton, Co-founder and Principal for Parallelle Finance shared the business case for gender lens investing.
A growing body of research demonstrates higher levels of women in leadership (and diversity in leadership) teams leads to: higher return on capital, better productivity, higher stock price performance and and better risk management.
Investors push for ESG
Elliott, which oversees $48bn, and Ancora, which oversees $9.4bn, have said they are proactively identifying women directors, as reported by Reuters.
Activist investors can have direct influence on companies by shaking up boards via a shareholder vote or negotiating directly to add or remove directors.
As environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues gain prominence, activist investors are working with hedge funds to apply pressure on companies.
Women-led hedge funds
Women represent (only) 10.9% of senior employees at hedge funds whilst total female representation in hedge funds is only 18.6% (2021 data), according to the Financial Times.
Last year UBS launched a portfolio that invests solely in hedge funds led by women. The data shows that (hedge) funds run by women are better are managing risk, (limiting losses) and generate higher returns.
UBS has built a database of more than 340 women who are sole or joint managers, or have significant influence over research in computer-driven funds.
As women-led hedge funds often struggle to attract as much capital as their male peers, UBS plans to support women in raising funds for their portfolios.
Women are launching funds
In many cases, it makes sense for women to launch their own fund.
Rather than ‘battle it out’ in a male-dominated firm which is slow to change, lacks diversity and struggles to recognise the female market opportunity, women set out on their own.
We are seeing this trend across the board including in venture capital and angel syndicates.
One example is a venture capital firm called Portfolia (US), which is founded by women for women. Their aim is to activate women’s wealth and has developed a global investing brand for powerful women.
Portfolia designs investment funds for women to invest in the innovative companies they want to see in the world through returns and impact.
And they ensure the investing process is engaging and educational for women within a supportive community.
What next?
Listen to The Purse Podcast interview with Ann Badillo who is an investor in Portfolia talk about her investing experience.
News in Brief
Financial news
Last Monday, the Nasdaq index fell 10% from its high in November but later regained some ground. The sell-off has been propelled by surging yields on US government bonds, as investors dump the debt in anticipation of tighter policy (rising interest rates) from the Federal Reserve.
On Friday, U.S. stocks opened lower, under pressure after a much weaker-than-expected reading on December retail sales and earnings from major banks.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note has climbed to 1.78% (the biggest rise since January 2020). The year started at 1.55%.
US inflation has risen 7% in December, over the past year, which is highest since 1982. Excluding food and energy, so-called core CPI was up 5.5% on the year, the biggest growth since February 1991.
On Wednesday, the FTSE 100 had the highest close since January 2020.
The UK economy has recovered to pre-pandemic levels. UK GDP grew by 0.9% in November, data from the Office for National Statistics shows, as the economy picked up after slowing to just 0.2% in October.
UK households have suffered the sharpest fall in the amount of cash they have available to spend for over 8 years. UK inflation is at its highest for a decade. Energy prices are surging.
Crypto: bitcoin, ethereum, DeFi & NFTs
Last Monday, the price of bitcoin fell below $40,000 for the first time since September 2020. It also reached the highest correlation to the S&P 500 and Nasdaq since July 2020. "Bitcoin behaved strongly like a risk asset”. See the current bitcoin price here ($43,000+)
The Ethereum price is around $3,300+. See the current price here.
The mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Paes, announced that the Brazilian city would be investing 1% of its Treasury in crypto.
Fidelity adds bitcoin exposure to traditional ETFs in Canada. The bitcoin allocation is being made through Fidelity’s spot bitcoin ETF, the Fidelity Advantage Bitcoin ETF launched in November.
Billionaire investor, Bill Miller now has 50% of his personal wealth in bitcoin. Miller said he thinks bitcoin is best thought of as “digital gold” with a strictly limited supply and that he’s only recently allowed himself to be called a “bitcoin bull”.
Ethereum burn rate hits record high as DeFi market jumps. Severe volatility has driven Ethereum’s daily burn to an all-time high, with roughly 18,070 ETH, or $57.8M, destroyed in 24 hours on Jan. 11.
World of Women ethereum NFTs follow Bored Apes to Hollywood. It has signed veteran music executive Guy Oseary to represent the project across other media formats. World of Women trading volume is up more than 1,100% over the last 24 hours to over $21m over that span, according to data from CryptoSlam. World of Women had $17.7m worth of trading volume on Wednesday, besting the previous high of $5.9m set in August.
The Purse Podcast
We cover the following in our conversation:
how Ann started investing
investing in Portfolia funds (US)
the investing process
why women should invest
funding female-led innovation
and more
Please enjoy! Listen on all podcast channels including iTunes and Spotify.
Coffee Break? Read This
We’d love to hear from you. Get in touch with Jana via the The Purse website or tweet @jointhepurse and @janicka.
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The Purse provides content for informational purposes only, we do not recommend products or services or provide investment advice. Please do your own research or speak to a financial advisor.
Activitist investors, women-led hedge funds and women launching their own VC funds. Listen to our podcast interview with Ann Badillo, investor in Portfolia (US)