Paulson Said To Be Losing Hedge Fund Assets From Citi

The hedge fund business might not be so easy after all, even for billionaires.  Reports are out today citing ‘people close to the situation’ that Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) via its private bank is withdrawing about $500 million from the hedge fund Paulson & Co.

This hedge fund had large losses in 2011 and it comes on the heels of reports that other investors have either withdrawn funds or which have threatened to withdraw funds.  Bloomberg said that the withdrawals were from Paulson’s Advantage Fund and Advantage Plus Fund.

We tracked the largest hedge funds earlier this year and found that Paulson was ranked at number six of the ten largest hedge funds in America.  At that time, his funds managed some $22.6 billion.

While this may certainly not cover anywhere close to the full holdings of Paulson, a recent 13F FILING showed that the Paulson public equities clocked in at just under $12 billion as of June 30, 2012.  Again, that may not represent anywhere close to the full holdings as that is only representative of listed equities and ETFs held.  That being said, the 13F filing from May for the March 31, 2012 holdings listed the holdings as being valued at just over $15 billion versus listed US equity and holdings of almost $14 billion as of the end of 2011 and our $22 billion or so under control of Paulson’s management firm was $22.6 billion in January 2011.

JON C. OGG