One year ago
»» Cash was king for King Street Capital Management, as a handful of investors told AR they were frustrated that the $19.5 billion firm had not invested as much as 60% of the portfolio at the start of the year.
At the time, the Greenwich, Conn. organization’s flagship event driven fund was up 2.91% through midyear. King Street said it was steadily reducing its cash stockpile; concurrently, returns were moving the same direction, as the fund was down 1.61% by the end of 2011 (see full returns here).
In 2012, performance has been better. The flagship is up 6.40% through the end of July, according to a person familiar with its returns, beating the 4.07% gain of the AR Event Driven Index.
Patrick Clifford, an external spokesman for the firm, said King Street declined to comment on its current cash position.
See also: King Street: Out of the Shadows
Five years ago
»» Campbell & Co., the Towson, Md. firm which then managed $11 billion, reopened two managed futures portfolios to investors.
The past five years have been generally strong for managed futures funds at large—especially 2008, when the median such fund gained 15.91% amid carnage for much of the rest of the industry. But Campbell has been shrinking dramatically, and was down to $2.70 billion in the latest AR Billion Dollar Club survey. Its largest strategy, the Campbell Global Assets fund, has returned 4.75% this year through the end of June, compared with a 0.04% gain for the AR Managed Futures Index over the same time period.
Campbell was not immediately available for comment. The firm is celebrating its fortieth anniversary this year.
See also: Campbell revamps approach after performance decline • Campbell’s Cleland steps down
»» Fixed income managers were on a wild ride, as returns for even the sector’s top performers were hurt by volatile mortgage spreads and rising interest rates.
Despite a low interest rate environment, fixed income funds have been the third best performing U.S. hedge fund strategy so far this year, according to AR data. For instance, the Ares Enhanced Credit Opportunities fund was up 8.93% through midyear, and the Barnegat Fund is up a whopping 29.99% through the end of July.
See also: Former top Goldman bond traders prep new fixed income fund
