Finance

A hedge fund with big-name backing has suffered another blow

Richard Wagoner GM facepalmChip Somodevilla/Getty

Folger Hill Asset Management, a hedge fund backed by Leucadia, has suffered another blow.

Rayne Gaisford, the director of risk management, left in recent weeks and plans to work in consulting, according to people familiar with the situation.

Gaisford’s departure marks at least the third in recent weeks at a senior level. The others are portfolio managers Mitul Shah and Jennifer Pollak, Business Insider previously reported.

Folger Hill has been struggling for some time. Last year, the fund fell -17.5% percent (compared to a 12% gain in the S&P 500).

In a January investor letter, the firm’s founder, Sol Kumin, said the fund would do better this year.

The firm’s flagship fund has returned 0.56% through the end of February, investor documents show. That’s compared to a 6% rise in the S&P 500 over the same period.

The hedge fund has not regained the assets it managed just eight months ago, when it oversaw about $1 billion, according to the Hedge Fund Intelligence Billion Dollar Club ranking.

Folger Hill’s backer, Leucadia, has been seeking a cash infusion since last year and has not found a partner, people familiar with the situation said. Folger Hill lost at least a third of its assets last year from the firm’s 2015 peak, Reuters reported.

Kumin launched Folger Hill in 2014 and previously was billionaire Steve Cohen’s chief operating officer at SAC Capital Advisors, which closed following an insider trading scandal.

A spokesman for Folger Hill declined to comment.

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