One year ago
»» York Capital founder Jamie Dinan graced the cover of AR at a delicate time for his firm, months after selling an estimated 30% of his business to Credit Suisse in a move that raised concerns among some institutional investors.
Dinan, 52, justified the move as a step toward beginning the handoff of the firm to the next generation. He also rejected the idea that the $14.8 billion York would be less aligned with the interests of its stakeholders, pointing out that most of York’s managers would have to stick around for five to seven years to cash out on their payouts from the deal.
The ensuing year has been mixed. York’s flagship $5.4 billion event-driven fund is down 5.93% in 2011 through the end of October, compared with a 5.06% loss for the AR Event-Driven index during the same period. However, York remains the 19th biggest hedge fund firm in the Americas, with assets up 16.54% in the first six months of 2011. Moreover, its Credit Opportunities fund picked up the trophy for long-term performance at last month’s AR Awards gala, beating out such names as D. E. Shaw and King Street (full returns for York funds available here in the AR Database).
York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
»» Seminole Management Company, which at that time managed $1.53 billion, told investors it was down for November, but up 8.3% for the year in its flagship U.S. equity fund (offshore). They ended the year up about 10%.
Founders Michael Messner and Paul Shiverick blamed long exposures to technology and industrial stocks for the monthly drop, but said they were optimistic. “Since hitting a soft patch last summer, the U.S. economy has been slowly recovering and we saw evidence in November that this trend is continuing,” Shiverick wrote in its investor letter.
The firm has been raising more money from investors despite reporting negative returns in 2011. The firm ran $1.9 billion as of July, while its offshore fund was down 4.4% for the year through Nov. 25.
Seminole did not immediately respond to a request for comment
See also:
Seminole to close to new investors
Seminole preps small-cap funds
Five years ago
»» Matthew Disero, previously a portfolio manager at Schafer Cullen Capital Management, teamed up with water industry veteran Disque Deane to form Reservoir Capital (no relation to the seeding firm of the same name), a New York firm that employs a long/short strategy to invest in public and private companies with water sector exposure.
The fund, now called the TRF Master Fund, manages $125 million, fueled by a compound annual return since inception of 9.54%, chief operating officer Mark Robert said. The fund is down 2.7% in 2011 through the end of November.
Deane told AR in September that part of the appeal to investors is that the stocks of water companies are generally uncorrelated with other types of equities, so investments in them have a tendency to smooth out returns in a diversified portfolio. The strategy is also no longer exclusively a hedge fund: Some 10% is devoted to private equity.
See also:
The tricky water trade
