One year ago
»» Taek-Geun Kwon, a managing director at private equity firm TPG Capital, planned the launch of long/short equity shop Toro Investment Partners in San Francisco.
Kwon had then received $50 million in commitments from investors, and officially filed fundraising documents in July of last year, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm boasted at least $120 million in assets as of yearend, recent filings showed. Performance information was not immediately available.
Kwon did not respond to requests for comment.
Five years ago
»» Carlson Capital of Dallas closed its flagship Double Black Diamond multistrategy fund to new investments after good performance and a successful marketing campaign buoyed its assets to $2 billion. The influx brought assets at Clint Carlson’s firm to $3.3 billion, which remained below the $4.7 billion the firm managed at yearend 2004.
Carlson managed firmwide assets of $6.2 billion as of January 1, with $4.5 billion of that in Double Black Diamond, which combines relative value arbitrage, risk arbitrage, convertible arbitrage and credit strategies. That fund lost 2.62% last year (data here), compared to a 0.08% gain for the AR Multistrategy Index. The fund is up 3.69% this year through May 4, according to HSBC Private Bank. Despite managing more than double the assets it had when closed to new investments five years ago, Double Black Diamond is now open for new allocations, according to a potential investor.
Carlson spokesman Jonathan Gasthalter declined to comment.
See also: Multistrats bounce back • Big name hedge funds fatten their coffers • Carlson opens Dallas office for incubation platform
»» Sedna Partners, a healthcare-focused hedge fund firm managed by Paul Yook and Rengan Rajaratnam, shut its doors following poor returns. Sedna’s $40 million domestic fund lost 8.2% in January 2007, though it had posted positive returns in each of the previous three years (full performance information was unavailable).
Both rejoined Galleon Management, founded by Rajaratnam’s now-infamous older brother, where Yook co-managed the Galleon Health Science Fund. Yook is reportedly under investigation in Galleon’s insider trading probe. Rengan Rajaratnam has not been charged criminally.
Neither Yook nor Rajaratnam could immediately be reached for comment.
