The Morning Brief: Glenview Capital Gains in Mixed Month for Managers

As more hedge funds report their August results, it is becoming increasingly apparent that there was a wide disparity in performance for the month. For example, Lawrence Robbins’ Glenview Institutional Partners, managed by his New York–based firm Glenview Capital Management, rose 4.55 percent in August, bringing the 2014 gain for the long-short fund to 14.39 percent.

Daniel Och’s Och-Ziff Capital Management posted just a 0.49 percent gain in its multi-strategy fund, the OZ Master Fund, in August, boosting its gains for the year to 2.57 percent. Its other two main funds, however, remain in the red. OZ Europe Master Fund fell slightly last month and is down 1.47 percent for the year while OZ Asia Master Fund fell slightly and is now down 4.25 percent for the year. The New York–based hedge fund firm also reported that assets grew by $400 million in August, to $46.1 billion, which includes performance for the month and capital flows from August 2 through September 1.

The dollar shares of London-based Brevan Howard Asset Management’s BH Macro Fund were flat in August, leaving the fund down 2.93 percent for the year. The fund has never suffered an annual loss.

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The divorce between Citadel founder Kenneth Griffin and wife Anne Dias Griffin has grown more acrimonious. She is demanding sole custody of the couple’s three children, who she wants to move from Chicago to New York. She also wants to void her prenuptial agreement, which she claims was signed after receiving advice from a psychologist three hours before their wedding rehearsal dinner 11 years ago, according to Bloomberg, citing a filing in Illinois state court in Chicago.

“Kenneth’s purpose for arranging the therapy session with Anne and the psychologist was to convince Anne to sign his agreement,” which Anne Griffin claims would deprive her of “property and maintenance rights potentially worth billions of dollars,” the filing reportedly states. In response, Kenneth Griffin’s lawyer Karen Krehbiel told Bloomberg in an e-mail: “The statements made by Anne in her pleadings are salacious and simply untrue. Ken will respond to Anne’s allegations on the merits, move this process forward, and protect his close relationship with the children.” The hedge fund manager earned $7.4 billion in the 12 years he qualified for Alpha’s Rich List, although this does not account for personal losses when his flagship funds lost 55 percent in 2008.

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The Credit Suisse Liquid Alternative Beta index rose 1.84 percent in August and is now up 2.77 percent for the year. The Long/Short Liquid Index rose 2.31 percent last month and is now up 5.62 percent for the first eight months. The LAB indices try to replicate the aggregate performance of hedge fund strategies using liquid, tradable instruments.

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Heidrick & Struggles is looking to beef up its hedge fund practice. The executive search firm has brought in John Hindley as a partner in its Financial Services Practice and will be based in London. He previously worked for Credit Suisse Prime Services and led the hedge fund practice at a smaller search firm. “John has an impeccable reputation and an intimate knowledge of the global hedge fund space,” said Daniel Edwards, global managing partner of the Financial Services Practice at Heidrick & Struggles, in a press release.

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Ricky Sandler’s Eminence Capital lifted its stake in Zynga by more than 43 percent, to more than 38 million shares, or 5.1 percent of the total outstanding shares of the provider of social game services.

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Boaz Weinstein’s Saba Capital Management lifted its stake by 25 percent in Neuberger Berman High Yield Strategies Fund Inc., a closed-end mutual fund, to 5.363 percent of the total shares outstanding.