Seeking Alpha – It’s a tough world out there – I saw in the Wall Street Journal the average hedge fund lost 18% in October. Considering what their mandate is i.e. hedge – that is amazing. September was awful as well. We see stories of hedge funds that are performing well (in this market losing 10% in a year is "great") and still facing redemptions because their investors need the cash…. as Ross Perot famously said… there is a "giant sucking sound" in our capital markets.
In a world hard up for cash, even hedge-fund winners can wind up losers. Such is the fate of major credit fund Blue Mountain Capital Management, whose investors have begun yanking investments despite the fund’s performance this year, a modest 2.4% loss, compared with an average 20% loss across all funds. Blue Mountain is a major player in the credit markets, with assets of $5.5 billion invested in bank loans, bonds and credit-default swaps. Its primary fund, the $3.1 billion Credit Alternatives Fund, had lost 2.4% this year through Friday.
Performance was largely beside the point for many Blue Mountain investors, who need access to cash. The perverse effect is that some investors have begun raiding their better-performing investments, giving the laggards a chance to recover.