Michael Platt latest news regarding a London court battle instigated by the FCA, UK financial watchdog, to compensate investors to the tune of $700 million has ended in the UK billionaire investor, asset manager’s favour. 

FCA’s legal action against London BlueCrest Capital Management failed because it lacked detail about losses suffered by customers and breaches of duties or regulatory requirements, ruled London judges. 

“Michael Platt latest news regarding a London court battle instigated by the FCA, UK financial watchdog, to compensate investors to the tune of $700 million has ended”

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Michael Platt’s BlueCrest was hit with a £40 million ($51 million) fine by the FCA in 2021 over allegations it favoured partners over external investors in an internal fund

FCA estimated the compensation sum to be more than $700 million but that the regulator’s penalty decision notice demonstrated “muddled thinking”, a decision dated June 21 showed.

In a separate incident, the FCA has also proposed fining Michael Platt’s fund 41 million pounds ($52 million) in 2021 for conflict of interest failings over a fund set up for BlueCrest staff. The conflict of interest case remains ongoing. 

A spokesperson for Michael Platt’s BlueCrest said it welcomed the decision to strike out the proposed redress case and that it would continue to defend its position vigorously. The case in question related to activity under a previous business model, it noted.

The FCA claims that BlueCrest failed to manage fairly a conflict of interest created by switching portfolio managers working on a fund open to investors outside BlueCrest to an internal fund open to partners and employees, leading to “substandard” client service between 2011 and 2015.

“FCA estimated the compensation sum to be more than $700 million”

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Michael Platt latest news; the billionaire investor has made the top 10 of the Sunday Times’s rich list

Michael Platt is a notable figure in the hedge fund world. He co-founded BlueCrest Capital Management with American William Reeves in 2000 after working for almost a decade at JP Morgan. 

In a little over two decades BlueCrest has grown to more than $60 billion in assets under management. Platt has become one of the richest men in the world. He is currently considered the wealthiest hedge fund manager in the UK, according to Sunday Times, with an estimated net worth of 11.5 billion pounds ($14.29 billion).

Michael Platt’s investment strategy is to find an edge and leverage it. He likes to trade aggressively following a crisis. “I think the major opportunities play out post the blow-up.” Platt adds, “The most important thing to remember about crises is you do not make your money going into the crisis. The big money you make in trading is more in the aftermath of the crisis. In 2009 we made 60% with no down months on our master fund.”

“Michael Platt obtained a loan worth $750 million from 16 banks to hire equity money managers and for capital purposes to start trading”
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In 2011, Platt made headlines, when reportedly he was approached by another heavyweight billionaire speculator, investor George Soros

Soros asked Platt to take an investment of around $1 billion but for a 0.5% management fee and a 10% performance fee, which was significantly lower than the industry standard fee of 2% and 20%, respectively. Platt rejected the offer.

Michael Platt of BlueCrest Capital Mgmt

Platt decided to expand into stocks in 2013 to compete with Israel Englander’s Millennium Management and Steven Cohen’s, now-defunct SAC Capital Advisors. To achieve this, Michael Platt obtained a loan worth $750 million from 16 banks to hire equity money managers and for capital purposes to start trading. 

Amazingly, regular Joe can not even deposit more than 10K into his bank account without being interrogated by the bank for fears of money laundering. But if you are part of the club, you can borrow millions from the darling banks for gambling operations. 

Is this how we ended up with a casino economy that makes nothing, floating on an asset bubble, and all that counts is your proximity to the easy free money? Even bad gamblers are compensated with bailouts if they are part of the club. 

“where is the casino royale player stacking his chips?”
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Back to Michael Platt latest news; so where is the casino royale player stacking his chips?

We are not referring to the billionaire’s recent acquisition, a 246-foot yacht worth 150.66 million US dollars. 

We scanned through BlueCrest’s 13F file, and here goes his top three picks;

Top on the list is Criteo SA (NASDAQ: CRTO. Shares held by BlueCrest Capital Management is 2.26 million, Value of Position: $71.20 million. 

Then coming a distant second is Mr Cooper Group Inc (NASDAQ: COOP)

Shares held by BlueCrest Capital Management: 817,222

Value of Position: $33.48 million

Mr Cooper Group Inc (NASDAQ: COOP) provides home loan services in the US, and its stock has appreciated by 14% so far this year. Amid this growth, BlueCrest added nearly 295,000 shares to its position during the first quarter.

Third on the list; Alibaba Group Holding Ltd – ADR (NYSE: BABA)

Shares held by BlueCrest Capital Management: 273,500

Value of Position: $27.95 million

Michael Platt’s fund acquired 273,500 shares of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd – ADR (NYSE: BABA) but added 514,200 shares worth of CALL options during the first quarter. With 128 funds holding $5.88 billion worth of stock, Alibaba currently to date,

Michael Platt latest sector portfolio allocation

So more than half of Michael Platt’s fund is allocated to the Financial sector, followed by Telecom and Industrials.

The fund’s ninth largest holdings are in options, the most significant position being SPDR Gold Trust (NYSEARCA: GLD), in which BlueCrest holds $322.83 million in CALLs, followed by $211.78 million in Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 (NASDAQ: QQQ) CALLs and $202.46 million in SPDR Gold Trust (NYSEARCA: GLD) PUTs.