Munch’s “The Scream” |
Open wide—hedge funds now have something in common with going to the dentist.
Leon Black, whose Apollo Management has $1.9 billion in hedge fund assets, paid nearly $120 million for Edvard Munch’s famous painting “The Scream,” the Wall Street Journal reported.
The pastel work of a pale male holding his head and letting out a cry was up for auction for the first time in May, and Black’s anonymous offers won out after 12 minutes of bid flying back and forth from a starting price of $40 million. The painting is one of four versions of the famous image, but the only one not held in an Oslo museum. If Black does not display it in a U.S. institution, it would join his extensive private collection that already includes drawings by Vincent van Gogh and cubist paintings by Pablo Picasso.
The billionaire Black was a forceful bidder despite mixed results for his biggest hedge fund in the past year and a half (see full figures here). The $1.6 billion Apollo Strategic Value fund, with portfolio manager Avi Katz at the helm, was down double digits last year, compared with a 2.66% loss for the AR Distressed Index. It has bounced back partially so far in 2012.
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