BOSTON, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Hedge fund firm Duff Capital Advisors, launched last year to help pension funds, endowments and insurers meet long-term funding obligations, laid off most of its staff, a person familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
The company remains in business and is now focusing mostly on providing risk analysis and advice, said the person who was not authorized to speak about the matter publicly. Previously Duff Capital also offered hedge fund products.
The company once had about 100 people working for it.
Hedge fund industry veteran Phil Duff, a former chief financial officer at Morgan Stanley and top executive at famous hedge fund firm Tiger Management, set up Duff Capital Advisors in March 2008, shortly before the financial crisis exploded. He launched the firm only a few months after having sold his previous firm, FrontPoint Partners, to Morgan Stanley.
Duff Capital Advisors, which had planned to raise between $1 billion and $1.5 billion to seed investment strategies, folded hedge fund group North Sound Capital into its operations in July.
North Sound's founder, Tom McAuley, who also once worked for Tiger Management, is now back on his own, managing only his personal money, the person said.
Hedge funds suffered their worst year ever in 2008 when the average fund lost 19 percent, investors pulled a record $155 billion out of the once red-hot industry, and many fund managers were forced to liquidate their businesses.
(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Phil Berlowitz) Keywords: HEDGEFUNDS/DUFFCAPITAL (Svea.Herbst@Reuters.com; +1 617 856 4331; Reuters Messaging: svea.herbst.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
The company remains in business and is now focusing mostly on providing risk analysis and advice, said the person who was not authorized to speak about the matter publicly. Previously Duff Capital also offered hedge fund products.
The company once had about 100 people working for it.
Hedge fund industry veteran Phil Duff, a former chief financial officer at Morgan Stanley and top executive at famous hedge fund firm Tiger Management, set up Duff Capital Advisors in March 2008, shortly before the financial crisis exploded. He launched the firm only a few months after having sold his previous firm, FrontPoint Partners, to Morgan Stanley.
Duff Capital Advisors, which had planned to raise between $1 billion and $1.5 billion to seed investment strategies, folded hedge fund group North Sound Capital into its operations in July.
North Sound's founder, Tom McAuley, who also once worked for Tiger Management, is now back on his own, managing only his personal money, the person said.
Hedge funds suffered their worst year ever in 2008 when the average fund lost 19 percent, investors pulled a record $155 billion out of the once red-hot industry, and many fund managers were forced to liquidate their businesses.
(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Phil Berlowitz) Keywords: HEDGEFUNDS/DUFFCAPITAL (Svea.Herbst@Reuters.com; +1 617 856 4331; Reuters Messaging: svea.herbst.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.