The examination that led to the investigation was conducted by members of the Division of Examinations' Private Funds Unit, including Jennifer Duggins, Christopher Marino, and Michael Collins. Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments. A similar story has unfolded at newspaper publisher McClatchy, which has posted annual losses since 2015. How do I update this listing? After working at investment banking firms Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and Goldman Sachs, he went to Morgan Stanley in 1998, where he worked his way up to heading the firms junk-bond trading group. to see more advanced email alert options such as selecting any type of That kind of showing helped the firm attract $300 million from investors this quarter, a person familiar with the matter said. Those investments amounted to a bet that the companies would acquire competitors and cut costs. Homes for sale in Grasse, France have an average listing price of $1,650,490 and range in price between $498,470 and $19,828,038. State officials are well-positioned and duty-bound to investigate allegations of potential wrongdoing in hedge fund portfolios, said former Securities and Exchange Commission attorney Edward Siedle. By clicking Accept, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. A similar story has unfolded at newspaper publisher McClatchy, which has posted annual losses since 2015. Its bonds rarely change hands. Grimstad claimed in filings that Chatham had manipulated iPayment bonds to seize control of the company. Those zero-coupon bonds maturing in 2024 offered lower yields than five-year U.S. government bonds over several months last year. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. It has made money in an ailing business partly by cutting the number of reporters and editors at The Denver Post and other publications, moves that have angered journalists and press advocates who accuse the firm of diminishing local news coverage. Before long, the Chatham camp would make good on its threat against that executive, unleashing a tale of sex and money worthy of the Enquirer. 685 Third Avenue This much is sure: Chatham founder Melchiorre, 51, has a formidable reputation. You know a little about ledes (leads) yourself. Federal regulators have been asking questions, too. He built his stature as a temperamental money-maker at the white-shoe firm. The California state pension system has been planning to exit all of its hedge fund investments and has been asking Chatham to sell holdings so it can return about $200 million. American Media now owes debtholders in excess of $1 billion, more than the book value of its assets. For the sake of McClatchys approximately 2,800 employees (for comparisons sake, The Star alone had more than 2,000 employees about 20 years ago), Im sorry to say things could get a lot worse before theres any chance of getting better. In a statement, a Chatham spokesman said the company was pleased with the outcome of the auction, adding, Chatham is committed to preserving newsroom jobs and independent journalism that serve and inform local communities during this important time.. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. email address below and choose 'Submit'. Turnover is calculated by taking the # of new holdings (initial purchases) + the # of positions sold out of (not just reduced) divided by the total # of holdings for the quarter. In 2013, former New Jersey Gov. Sue, Chatham lawyers warned, and well drag your family into this, according to court testimony. With a strategy that led to deep layoffs at The Denver Post and other publications, it has made money in an ailing business while angering journalists and press advocates who accuse the firm of diminishing local news publications and doing a disservice to the communities they cover. After he departed amid a round of layoffs, Melchiorre quit Manhattan to join the Jersey Boys, a clique of hedge funders across the Hudson River that included billionaires Cooperman and David Tepper. The SEC has increased its focus on the valuation of securities across the market, said Jacob Frenkel, a lawyer at Dickinson Wright. Melchiorre and his. Their bonds, though, havent suffered. Chatham Asset Management Increases Offer to Acquire R.R. CHATHAM ASSET HIGH YIELD OFFSHORE FUND, LTD. CHATHAM ASSET PARTNERS HIGH YIELD FUND, L.P. 13 Beds 11 Baths 5920 sqft. In 2018, Canadas Competition Bureau, a law enforcement agency that oversees commerce, opened an investigation into the transaction for possible anticompetitive conduct and has searched the offices of both Postmedia and Torstar. Despite the losses, Postmedia has managed to shunt most of its cash toward paying off its heavy debt load, which ultimately will benefit Chatham. With roots going back to 1857, McClatchy, a consistent winner of top journalism awards, was one of the last major family-run news publishers. Chatham Asset Management, LLC Anthony Melchiorre Managing Member Dear Mr. Melchiorre, We are writing to follow up on our discussions with regards to your non-binding, conditional indication of interest to acquire R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company. The iPayment case thrust questions about Chathams bond-trading methods into the open. The investigation was supervised by Sheldon Pollock. Start Free Trial . Recent cases brought by the regulator show its trying to ensure that investors have a full and fair understanding of how instruments in the market are being priced.. In April, the company said it had received a Chatham-led bid worth more than $300 million. The ugly litigation with the tech executive was resolved with a less-than-remorseful apology and a multimillion-dollar payday for Grimstad. The two parties also agreed jointly and severally to pay $11 million in disgorgement and about $3.4 million in prejudgment interest, and civil penalties of $4.4 million and $600,000, respectively. Importantly, the trading occurred more than four years ago in funds that have since been closed. Pressure has been building. After stints at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, and Goldman Sachs Group, Melchiorre landed at Morgan Stanley in 1998 where he rose to head the junk-bond trading group. Chatham investors say that even if authorities go after the National Enquirer for allegedly extorting Bezos or for catch-and-kill tactics, American Media is a valuable company, with several magazines it could sell to raise money for creditors. The SECs order finds that, from 2016 through 2018, one Chatham-advised client sold certain American Media, Inc. (AMI) bonds while a different Chatham-advised client purchased the same bonds through various broker-dealers. Even before the pandemic, Postmedia saw a falloff in advertising, once the lifeblood of newspapers. NJBIZ, New Jerseys leading business journal, provides 24/7 business news coverage and events honoring top business professionals. (Another Postmedia creditor, the hedge fund Canso Investment Counsel, is being paid back more quickly based on an earlier agreement.). It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. Yes, Tony Ridder came to The Star newsroom when KR bought the paper. It was a lucrative move. Under Chatham, Postmedia has consolidated editorial operations to create what company insiders call common pages. National and political coverage is often prepared at a central site, and content from The National Post is inserted into newspapers across Postmedia. 1 Twitter 2 Facebook 3RSS 4YouTube Thats exactly what happened. This story was co-published with MapLight and Capital & Main. Chatham engaged in these trades to address portfolio constraints such as industry or issuer fund concentration limits, meet investor redemptions, and allocate capital inflows and outflows, the SEC noted. Chatham itself has been undergoing its first ever exam by the SECs inspections division, according to people familiar with the 16-year-old firm. A March 2019 Fortune magazine story said Melchiorre, who is either 51 or 52, was raised in Chicago, studied economics at Northwestern and got an MBA from the University of Chicago. Melchiorre and his wife have donated more than $100,000 to Republican candidates and party committees since 2010. ", A representative for Chatham said in an email that "Chatham sought, received and followed advice from an independent compliance consultant about the manner of executing the trading in question. Chatham Asset Management provides investment advisory services. Get access to the news, research and analysis of events affecting the retirement and institutional money management businesses from a worldwide network of reporters and editors. AMI represents a large portion of Chathams portfolio. This much is sure: Chatham founder Melchiorre, 51, has a formidable reputation. Journalists employed by McClatchy, as well as the mayors in Lexington, Ky.; Sacramento; and Miami three cities served by McClatchy papers pushed for local, civic-minded ownership of the chain. Anthony Melchiorre, Chatham Asset Management, LLC: Profile and Biography - Bloomberg Markets Bloomberg Terminal Demo Request Bloomberg Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of. A Chicago-area kid who studied economics at Northwestern and got an MBA from the University of Chicago, his high-toned education didn't reduce the intensity of the former high-school football star. Contact. Altogether, the company has cut over 1,600 employees since 2016, or 38 percent of its staff, based on company filings. The state has said its exploring its options in light of Bezoss claim that American Media tried to blackmail him. Thats just not how bond math works, said Michael Terwilliger, a portfolio manager at Resource Credit Income Fund. Seaport Global defended its practices. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Bob Hepburn, a Torstar spokesman, said, Torstar continues to cooperate with the bureau in its investigation.. Those investments amounted to a bet that the companies would acquire competitors and cut costs. The Securities and Exchange Commission said the trades were executed at prices that lifted the value of American Media Inc. bonds at a significantly higher rate than . Yet its recent focus on tough-to-trade investments has given some clients pause, and initially drove off investors such as the Ohio state pension fund. Chatham and Melchiorre agreed to pay more than $19.3 million in combined disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties to settle the charges. The announcement, which signals an end to 163 years of family ownership, underlines the growing influence of the finance industry on American newspapers. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The headquarters of Chatham Asset Management in Chatham, N.J. The matter has been resolved and we are focused on generating returns for our investors.". the MV of securities sold, whichever is less, Thoserecordsshow the original $500 million investments are now worth as much as $692 million. They wanted to kill a lawsuit by the former head of another Chatham company. Anthony Ralph Melchiorre is an employee with Chatham Asset Management, LLC, a hedge fund company. Aiysha Johnson will take the helm of the 13,000-plus member organization following Ralph Albert Thomas' June r[], The Englewood-based advisory firm has entered into an agreement to buy Brainard Capital Management of Austin, [], The 29-year-old and conspirators engaged USPS employees to steal the charge cards from the mail in exchange fo[], The CEO of Toorak Capital Partners offers an analysis of the current residential real estate market, the firm'[], Small businesses are the backbone of our economy. Californias pension fund also has a $235 million stake in a Chatham fund. Despite the companys financial distress, its bonds traded near par until December, and after dropping, have been climbing back. Wall Streets main regulator has been looking into opaque markets since the financial crisis, uncovering a wide swath of bad behavior from lying salespeople to bogus quotes from brokers. Chathams and Melchiorres trading in the AMI bonds accounted for the vast majority of trading in those securities and therefore over time had a material effect on their pricing. In all, the two companies closed 36 of the 41 newspapers that were part of the unusual deal, resulting in 291 job losses. Its boundaries differed from those of the modern department, however. Chatham would conduct required due diligence and documentation and is prepared to devote considerable resources to completing this transaction, Melchiorre stated. Position: Managing Member/Portfolio Manager, Company/Fund Name: Chatham Asset Management, LLC, Address: 26 Main Street, Suite 204, Chatham, NJ, 7928, United States. American Media now owes debtholders in excess of $1 billion, more than the book value of its assets. They are scrappy, and they arent afraid of litigation to defend their investments, said Leon Cooperman, a recently retired hedge fund mogul who is a Chatham investor and part owner of American Media, the Enquirers publisher. During the last five years, taxpayers in New Jersey, Ohio and California have owned large financial stakes in the owner of the media company that allegedly helped the Trump campaign bury negative stories, according to documents reviewed by Capital & Main and MapLight. Soon after, he crossed the Hudson River to set up his own hedge fund in Chatham, N.J. Mr. Melchiorre manages over $4 billion in assets for clients through various funds, including some listed under a Cayman Islands address, where more favorable tax rates apply. This is all very bad news for The Kansas City Star and the other McClatchy papers. Fortress is owned by the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank. A spokeswoman for Cohen declined to comment, and a spokesman for American Media and Pecker didnt respond to requests for comment. Local journalism has never been more vital, Mr. Forman said, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to delivering on our mission and continuing to serve our communities.. Anthony is Managing Member/Portfolio Manager and has served as Managing Member/Portfolio Manager since 09/01/2003. The sale was proposed after American Media signed a nonprosecution agreement with federal prosecutors in which it affirmed that it had made a payment to influence the 2016 election. During the Relevant Period, Melchiorre owned approximately 70 percent of Chatham, and is the managing member of the general partner entity for each of the Funds. Chatham Asset Management is based out of Chatham. Chatham took on more American Media debt in recent months, getting Seaport to arrange a deal after Credit Suisse Group AG got cold feet amid public furor over the publishers antics in the 2016 presidential election. Postmedia (along with its external counsel) is strongly of the view that there has been no contravention of the Competition Act with respect to this matter, Phyllise Gelfand, a Postmedia spokeswoman, said in a statement. House in Cabris, Provence-Alpes-Cte d'Azur, France. Were not even covering some City Hall things, which we miss., Postmedia said in a statement that it did not share specific numbers on staffing. Washington, D.C.--(Newsfile Corp. - April 3, 2023) - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged New Jersey-based Chatham Asset Management LLC and its founder, Anthony Melchiorre, in connection with improper trading of certain fixed income securities. Chatham is led by Anthony Melchiorre, a Chicago-area native who has earned a reputation on Wall Street as a tough negotiator. The firm and its founder, Anthony Melchiorre, have a reputation for hard-edged business. Sad. Chatham and the Enquirers publisher, David Pecker, had turned to Trumps fixer as a mediator. Anthony Ralph Melchiorre is an employee with Chatham Asset Management, LLC, a hedge fund company. Now he was working on behalf of Chatham Asset Management, a $4.3 billion hedge fund that owns the National Enquirer. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. New York, NY 10017-4036, Chicago Office [2]: $5,850,800. There are often clauses in agreements between pension funds and hedge funds that give states certain rights and recourse if they believe retirees money has been invested in companies engaging in criminal activity, he said. Chatham did not respond to questions about how exposed taxpayers and pension systems might be to AMI and any financial consequences of its legal entanglements. Chatham and Melchiorre agreed jointly and severally to pay $11 million in disgorgement and around $3.4 million in prejudgment interest. I love your lead sentence, Fitz. I was there. Its bonds staged an improbable rally last year, charting a steady climb over 50 percent from 80 to 125 cents on the dollar. The Securities and Exchange Commission has stepped up examinations of various bond funds lately, inquiring about their relationships with brokers and how they value debt. Tony Ridder came to the newsroom and spoke, although he was such a stone of a personality I dont specifically remember it. of the acquiring company to visit the newsrooms of the papers being bought and to speak about the companys plans for the future and answer employees questions. Blue Sky Digital Outdoor Advertising Fund Fund Data, Sarasin Ie Global Equity Opportunities (Usd) Fund Data, Themelios Ventures Ii-A, L.P. Fund Data. So glad that I turned 55 last year and was able to get my 401(k) the hell out of there and roll it into the one at my current employer. Thanks, Tracy. The expected deal to sell The Sacramento Bee, McClatchys flagship publication, and other newspapers to a New Jersey hedge fund will end 163 years of family ownership. Chatham Asset Management and its founder, Anthony Melchiorre, have agreed to settle charges they violated U.S. laws designed to protect investors when they bought and sold bonds in.