The difficult money-raising environment is déjà vu all over again for Bob Treue, CEO of Hoboken, New Jersey–based Barnegat Fund Management. Soon after he set up his hedge fund in November 1998, Long-Term Capital Management collapsed, spooking investors. “Everyone was scared,” Treue, 40, tells II. As a result, he was unable to attract fresh money until March 2000 and ran the fixed-income hedge fund with $500,000 of his own cash.
In 2001 three global investors put in a combined $25 million, which Treue used to create a new offshore fund that he capped at $500 million two years later. Last year’s market turmoil pushed assets down to just over $200 million, after the fund fell 37 percent. Barnegat is up 81 percent this year through May 31, and its assets have rebounded to $413 million.
