Hedge Fund Atticus Capital to Close Flagship Fund

Atticus Capital announced today it will return $3 billion to investors from two funds, including its flagship hedge fund, the Atticus Global Fund. The fund has not performed well over the last couple years. The Atticus Global Fund was down 25% in 2008 and 9% in 2009 YTD.

As recently as 2007, Atticus Capital had $3.7 billion in assets under management (AUM).

According to Atticus founder, Timothy Barakett, the move was for personal reasons and not in response to investor redemptions.

The $1.2 billion dollar Atticus European Fund will remain open.

Atticus Capital typically employs a merger arbitrage and risk arbitrage, as well as event driven strategies and was founded in 1995 by Timothy Barakett at the age of 29. Atticus is based in New York with an additional office in London.
Contact info for Atticus Capital:
Atticus Capital
767 5th Avenue
New York, NY 10153
Phone: 212-256-8000

Hedge Fund, Satellite Asset Management, to Close

New York based hedge fund Satellite Asset Management is closing its doors six months after suspending redemptions.

The firm, with $2.8 billion in AUM, has begun returning money to investors in its three funds, Bloomberg News reported. The three funds being liquidated are the Satellite Overseas Fund, Satellite Fund II and its largest fund, the Satellite Credit Opportunities fund. In late 2008, Satellite reported its $2billion Credit Opportunities Fund was down as much as 35% and was facinf large redemption requests.

The firm, founded by a trio of Soros Fund Management veterans a decade ago (Lief Rosenblatt, Gabe Nechamkin, and Mark Sonnino) managed as much as $7 billion as recently as the end of 2007. It lost some 35% last year, and was forced to halt withdrawals in November.

Hedge Fund Alson Capital Closes Amid Redemptions

Amid massive redemptions, hedge fund Alson Capital is closing its doors. The $800 million fund performed poorly in a difficult market. The fund once manages as much as $3.5 billion. Alson Capital was founded 11 years ago by Neil Barsky, a former Wall Street Journal employee who went on to work with Morgan Stanely before creating his fund.

According to Barsky: “I likely will never again manage a hedge fund,” he wrote to investors. He did pronounce himself “young enough and energetic enough to purse new initiatives either in the fields of business, government or philanthropy.”

Boston Hedge Fund - Another Madoff Casualty

Among the dozens of casualties to result from the Madoff ponzi scheme is GMB Capital Management. GMB made $50 million in bad bets including large investments in Madoff's fund. GMB's ironically named Low-Volatility Fund previously had $100 million in assets under management. The hedge fund is run by Gabriel Bitran of MIT.

3000 Hedge Funds Could Close, BNP Paribas Says

BNP Paribas is speculating that more than 3000 hedge funds that operated in 2008 will be gone by the end of 2009. BNP Paribas is also noting that hedge fund assets could fall under $1 trillion.

According to Hedge Fund Research, more than 600 hedge funds closed their doors in 2008. up more than 70% from 2007.

The third quarter, the last quarter for which data is complete, witnessed more than 300 hedge fund closures, a new record.

Hong-Kong Based Hedge Fund Closes

1-Apac Greater China hedge fund who once managed $55 billion is closing its doors. Dr. Ken Lu confirmed today the decision was made to pull the plug after 16% losses this month and assets diminishing to under $10 million.
Very bearish asian stock market returns have been pounding China focused hedge funds this year with more fund closings than openings this year. This is a sharp reversal from last year when almost twice as many hedge funds were opened as were closed.

Read the full article: