John Paulson’s main funds posted strong performance across the board in June.
Paulson & Co.’s best performer was Paulson Enhanced, a merger arbitrage fund that uses leverage, which was up 6 percent in June and 11.8 percent for the first six months of 2014. This far exceeds the 7.1 percent gain posted by the Standard & Poor’s 500 index in the first half of the year.
Paulson International, an unleveraged merger arbitrage fund, rose 3.2 percent in June and is now up 6.6 percent for the year.
In June the merger funds benefited from gains in health care, energy and signed deal offers, according to a brief report Paulson’s firm sent to clients and obtained by Alpha.
Paulson Credit was up 1.4 percent in June and 8.1 percent year to date. The credit funds benefited from gains in convertible securities, defaulted securities and bank debt portfolios.
Paulson Recovery was up 1.7 percent in June and 3.2 percent for the first six months. The Recovery funds benefited from gains in asset management, insurance and hotel investments, according to the hedge fund firm.
In addition, the event arbitrage funds moved from the red to the black last month. Paulson Advantage surged 3.8 percent in June and is now up 1.2 percent for the year. Paulson Advantage Plus, which uses leverage, rose 4.6 percent and is now up 2.9 percent for the year. The Advantage funds benefited from gains in their gold, health care, energy and post-reorganization securities portfolios.
“We believe our current positions will continue to generate positive returns as event catalysts occur going forward,” the New York hedge fund firm told clients in the note.
