| Ken Griffin, founder and chief executive officer Citadel LLC (Photo credit: Patrick T. Fallon/Bloomberg). |
February was a tough month for multistrategy managers.
Several of the most high-profile funds lost money last month, while most of the large, well-known funds were either down or up less than 1 percent. Basically, it came down to this: If you were not long the surging stock market, you made puny gains.
Last month the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index gained 4 percent, and the Dow Jones industrial average rose 4.8 percent. Fixed-income performance was mixed last month, depending on the manager.
Of course, multistrategy managers are far from a homogeneous group. They tend to emphasize different strategies.
For example, Citadel’s main funds were flat in February. As a result, for the first two months of the year Wellington is up 1.85 percent and Kensington is up 1.78 percent.
Israel (Izzy) Englander’s Millennium funds, operated out of Millennium Management, fell between 30 and 35 basis points last month and are up only about 1 percent for the year.
Meanwhile, Eric Mindich’s Eton Park Capital Management continues to struggle. Its flagship fund was off 40 basis points last month and is up just 0.5 percent in the first two months of the year. It lost 9.4 percent last year.
Balyasny Asset Management’s Atlas Enhanced Fund declined by 50 basis points, cutting its gain for the year to 1.8 percent. Paul Singer’s Elliott Associates, on the other hand, made money last month — but barely. The fund, managed by Elliott Management Corp., eked out a 0.07 percent gain in February. However, it is still up 2 percent for the year.
Last year Elliott was one of the best-performing multistrategy funds — and among the better-performing hedge funds in general — when it posted a 13.1 percent gain.
The flagship fund of Hutchin Hill Capital Management, headed by Neil Chriss, had one of the better months among multistrategy managers last month despite gaining just 60 basis points. This enabled the fund to move back into the black but just slightly. It is up a mere 10 basis points for the year. Last year the fund gained 4.75 percent.
Och-Ziff Capital Management Group, which has been suffering from a rash of redemptions due in large part to its legal woes, performed better than most multistrategy funds. In February its flagship fund, OZ Master Fund, gained about 1 percent, boosting its gain for the year to 3.12 percent. Its OZ Asia Master Fund returned 2.53 last month and is now up 4.93 percent for the year. Although OZ Europe Master Fund lost 0.24 percent in February, it is still up 1.75 percent for the year.
