The Morning Brief: Citadel’s Flagship Funds Add 19 Percent in 2013

Kenneth Griffin’s two main multi-strategy funds, Wellington and Kensington Global Strategies, just missed posting their third consecutive annual gain of at least 20 percent. The two funds, run by Chicago-based Citadel, rose 2.10 percent in December, putting their gains for the full year at 19.25 percent. This still makes Citadel one of the best performing multi-strategy funds in 2013. The funds were said to benefit from pretty strong returns across the board, although sources say equities came back strongly in the second half of the year. In addition, Citadel’s Tactical fund rose 2.30 percent in December and 14 percent for the year; Global Equities was up 2.55 percent and 12.20 percent; while Global Fixed Income climbed 2.15 percent and 19.75 percent.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals shares surged 11.30 percent Tuesday to close at $125.35 after the company provided strong guidance on an earnings conference call. The stock is the second largest holding of activist hedge fund ValueAct Capital and a big holding among a number of Tiger Cubs, including Stephen Mandel, Jr.’s Lone Pine Capital and Jonathan Auerbach’s New York–based hedge fund firm Hound Partners, which counted Valeant as its top holding at the end of the third quarter.

Shares of controversial multi-level marketer of nutrition supplements Herbalife jumped 3 percent when investors were relieved to learn the company was not among a number of weight-loss related companies that agreed to settle false advertising charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Shares of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, a disastrous short bet by David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital, rose another 3.56 percent, to $79.69, on Tuesday despite an apparent lack of news.

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