The Blackstone Group, the largest outside investor in the hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors, said it would keep most of its $550 million with the hedge fund for three more months while it monitors developments in the government’s insider trading investigation.
The move by Blackstone comes as SAC’s clients faced a regularly scheduled quarterly deadline on Thursday to decide whether to continue investing with the hedge fund giant run by Steven A. Cohen.
Despite posting one of the best investment track records on Wall Street â€" returning 30 percent annually over the past two decades â€" SAC has been fighting to keep investors’ money amid an intensifying investigation into criminal conduct at the fund. In November, since prosecutors brought its most recent case against Mathew Martoma, a former SAC employee, clients have been weighing whether to continue their relationship with the fund. Mr. Martoma has denied the charges.
Large hedge fund investors like Blackstone rarely make public prnouncements about their intentions, but given the heightened interest in SAC, the investment firm issued a statement explaining the rationale for its decision.
The money that Blackstone did withdraw was done in the normal course of business and unrelated to any of SAC’s problems. Blackstone, which runs the world’s largest so-called fund of funds, placing nearly $50 billion with outside managers, is seen as a bellwether in the hedge fund industry.
“While we submitted redemptions for certain accounts as appropriate, BAAM successfully preserved flexibility for our clients by extending our decision time line,†Peter Rose, a Blackstone spokesman, said in a statement, referring to Blackstone Alternative Asset Management, the segment that invests with hedge funds. “We will use this period of time to evaluate all additional information which becomes available.â€
It is unclear what the total amount of money that SAC’s clients redeemed on Thursday. The Stamford, Conn.-based hedge! fund had warned its employees that it expected it could face at least $1 billion of withdrawals. A Citigroup unit that manages money for wealthy families has already disclosed that it was withdrawing its $187 million investment.
While several other former SAC employees have previously been charged with insider trading crimes, the Martoma prosecution has changed clients’ calculus because the trades at the center of the case involve Mr. Cohen. In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission warned SAC that it might file a civil fraud lawsuit against the fund related to the trades. Mr. Cohen has not been charged and has said that he has acted appropriately at all times.
Federal prosecutors are also nearing a decision whether to bring criminal charges against Michael Steinberg, a longtime SAC portfolio manager, related to trading in the technology stocks Dell and Nvidia. A lawyer for Mr. Steinberg, Barry Berke, said in a statement that his client did absolutely nothing wrong.
Unlike othr hedge funds that can be forced to shut down after a wave of client withdrawals, SAC is in a slightly unusual situation. Only about 40 percent of the $14 billion managed by SAC, or about $6 billion, comes from outside clients. The balance belongs to Mr. Cohen and his well-paid staff.
In addition, SAC has policies in place that limit the amount of money a client can withdraw during any one quarter. Clients can only withdraw 25 percent of their investment every three months. That means if a client put in a so-called redemption request on Thursday, it would receive its money back in quarterly installments beginning March 31, and getting its last dollar out on Dec. 31.
Blackstone negotiated a way to buy itself some time without delaying its ability to withdraw it investment from the fund. SAC agreed to a new redemption policy that it will extend to its other clients, allowing them to keep their money with SAC for another quarter. If after three months, clients then decide to end their relati! onship wi! th SAC, the fund would return their money in three installments.
Under the new policy, SAC is permitting clients to take a wait-and-see approach, monitoring the investigation for developments that could damage the fund. And if they withdraw, they would still have all of their money returned by year-end.
SAC recent investment results have been solid, though it has lagged behind the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index. The fund returned about 13 percent last year and 2.5 during the first month of 2013.
