Embattled New York Hedge Fund Business Gets A Family Office Makeover

Tom Burroughes

1 October 2012

A New York-based multi-strategy hedge fund firm, Brencourt Advisors, is returning outside capital to investors and re-inventing itself as a family office, following a similar move made by George Soros’s business over a year ago.

Brencourt will liquidate most of its external client funds by the end of the year. Clients can expect to begin receiving their money in October, Bloomberg reports.

The move was announced to investors on 14 September, the report said. In a letter, clients were told Brencourt would liquidate all or most of its Multi Strategy, Credit Opportunities and Merger Arbitrage funds. The firm, with $300 million of client money, at one stage managed as much as $2.5 billion. It reportedly said that its fundraising struggles were to blame for its demise after a dozen years in business.

In July last year, Soros Fund Management said it will stop managing funds for outside investors and become a family office.

To some extent, regulatory changes in the US and elsewhere may be a factor. Industry experts last year told this publication that in the case of the Soros firm, it would have to have been registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission by March 2012 along with hundreds of other asset managers, including firms outside the US.