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NineMSN – Ospraie Management is launching two funds focusing on commodities and other liquid securities just eight months after it was forced to close its flagship fund amid huge losses on commodities trades.
The US hedge fund’s move, announced in a letter to investors, is a sign of growing confidence within the hedge fund industry.
"After much reflection and with a number of lessons learned, we see a set of opportunities today that we believe could create significant value for investors in coming years," Dwight Anderson, Ospraie’s founder, wrote in a letter last week obtained by the Financial Times.
Seeking Alpha – If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. This cliché is the root of folly on Wall Street and in the hedge fund industry in general. Perfect example: The Ospraie Fund’s Dwight Anderson is set to start two new hedge funds in July. Okay, new hedge funds, what’s the big deal? Well, the problem here is that Dwight Anderson lost 39% in his Ospraie Fund in 2008 and had to liquidate the fund. At its peak, Ospraie managed $3.8 billion in commodities. But if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. And, that’s exactly what Anderson is set to do.
Anderson will open two new hedge funds in July of 2009, the first of which will focus on stocks of commodity and basic materials companies (The Ospraie Equity Fund). He will also open a fund focused on commodities and derivatives (The Ospraie Commodity Fund). Anderson said that he is starting these funds because he sees significant opportunities in this market, as significant as he has ever seen in his 15 years of investing. These funds will have reduced fees where investors will pay half as much as the typical hedge fund. His new funds will charge a 1% management fee and a 10% performance fee.
Bloomberg – Dwight Anderson, the commodities investor who liquidated his main Ospraie Fund last year after losing 39 percent, is planning a comeback with two new hedge funds set to open July 1.
The Ospraie Equity Fund will buy and sell stocks of commodity and basic-materials companies in industries such as chemicals, mining, paper and natural resources, Anderson said in a May 12 letter to investors. The Ospraie Commodity Fund will invest in commodities and related derivatives, according to the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Bloomberg News.
New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Two hedge funds run by famed portfolio manager Jeffrey Gendell are being closed because of heavy losses suffered this year. Both Tontine Partners LP and Tontine Capital Partners LP are liquidating assets, although no time table has been given.
The Greenwich-based Tontine Associates, which manages over $11 billion through their four hedge funds, reached their decision after the two funds lost more than two-thirds of their value this year. Tontine Partners was down 65 percent for the year through September September 30th, while Tontine Capital Partners plunged over 75 percent.
“The combination of falling commodity prices, massive anticipated hedge-fund redemptions and the seizing up of the credit markets caused an enormous dislocation in our portfolios,” Gendell told clients last month.
The hedge funds will be liquidated in an orderly fashion, in order to maximize shareholder returns.
Tontine Associates will continue to offer two other hedge funds; the Tontine Financial Partners LP and the Tontine-25 Fund, both run by Gendell. Before the recent credit crisis, all of the firm’s hedge funds were posting admirable returns of almost 40 percent annually since inception.
Hedge funds as a whole have not been faring too well as of late, with research by Hedge Fund Index showing losses of over 15 percent overall this year. The Tontine hedge funds are just the latest in a string of closures stemming from massive hits. Big names like Drake Management, Highland Capital and Ospraie have all closed funds this year.
Julie Scuderi Senior Editor for HedgeCo.Net Email: julie@hedgeco.net
