Eric Mindich, founder and CEO of Eton Park Capital Management, informed clients on Thursday that he was shutting down the struggling hedge fund he founded in 2004, citing poor performance and a waning interest in hedge funds among investors, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Eton Park, which manages about $7 billion, missed out on the market gains of 2016 and lost 9% for the year, as the Journal‘s Gregory Zuckerman notes. “The firm is flat in 2017, according to people close to the matter, despite a gain of more than 5% for the S&P 500, including dividends,” Zuckerman writes. “Mr. Mindich decided the firm could no longer sustain its strategy, which focuses on investing in complex strategies across global markets.”
Eton Park is expected to return 40% of investor money by the end of April, according to the Journal. In a letter to clients, Mindich explained his decision.
“Recently, a combination of industry headwinds, a difficult market environment and, importantly, our own disappointing 2016 results have challenged our ability to continue to maintain the scale and scope we believe necessary to pursue our investment program,” Mr. Mindich wrote in a letter to investors dated March 23. “As a result, we have made the very difficult decision to return your capital, from a position of relative strength.”
Before founding Eton Park 13 years ago, Mindich spent 15 years at Goldman Sachs. He became the youngest partner in the history of the firm when he was 27.
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