Despite having Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein as an investor and being Bill and Hillary Clinton's son-in-law, Marc Mezvinsky (and two former colleagues from Goldman Sachs who manage Eaglevale Partners hedge fund) told investors in a letter sent last week they had been "incorrect" on Greece, helping produce losses for the firm’s main fund during two of the past three years. By 'incorrect' Chelsea Clinton's husband means the Eaglevale fund focused on Greece lost a stunning 48% last year and, as The Wall Street Journal reports [9], is impacting the overall returns of the roughly $400 million fund which has spent 27 of its 34 months in operation below its "high-water mark."
[10]
In 2013, Institutional Investor proclaimed Mezvinsky "a hedge fund rising star"... [11]
In late 2011, Marc Mezvinsky co-founded New York-based, macro-focused hedge fund firm Eaglevale Partners with Bennett Grau and Mark Mallon, two Goldman Sachs Group proprietary traders whom he'd gotten to know when they all worked at the bank. Best known as the husband of Chelsea Clinton, Mezvinsky, 35, who has a BA in religious studies and philosophy from Stanford University and an MA in politics, philosophy and economics from the University of Oxford, has been quietly building his finance career. Before launching his own firm, the longtime Clinton family friend was a partner and global macro portfolio manager at New York- and Rio de Janeiro-based investment house 3G Capital. Eaglevale manages more than $400 million.
But, as The Wall Street Journal reports [9], things are not working out so well...
The hedge fund co-founded by Bill and Hillary Clinton ’s son-in-law suffered losses tied to an ill-timed bet on Greece’s economic recovery, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
Eaglevale Partners LP, founded by Marc Mezvinsky and two former colleagues from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., told investors in a letter sent last week they had been “incorrect” on Greece, helping produce losses for the firm’s main fund during two of the past three years, according to the letter.
The main fund dropped 3.6% last year, far trailing the 5.7% rise for similar hedge funds tracked by HFR Inc. That followed an Eaglevale gain of 2.06% in 2013 and a loss of 1.96% in 2012, the documents show.
...
A smaller Eaglevale fund focused only on Greece plunged 48% last year, said the person familiar with the situation, hurt by the belief Greece’s economy will see a quick rebound.
“Our recent predictions regarding Greek politics have proved incorrect,” Mr. Mezvinsky and the other Eaglevale founders wrote to investors last week, after a radical leftist party won national elections in an upset of Europe’s political order.
...
Eaglevale is a relatively small player in the hedge-fund world... But its moves have been closely followed, investors said, partly because of Mr. Mezvinsky’s family connection. Ahead of the firm’s launch, Goldman Sachs hosted group sessions for prospective investors that drew standing-room-only crowds. The investment bank is one of the firm’s prime brokers, which help hedge funds execute trades and introduce them to potential backers.
Goldman Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein is an investor in Eaglevale’s main fund, people familiar with the matter said.
Since its founding, Eaglevale has spent 27 of its 34 months in operation below its “high-water mark,” a term that describes whether a Day One investor is in the black.
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And in conclusion, why the fund will likely see massive redemptions now... the ten words no one wants to hear from their hedge fund manager - no matter who his in-laws are:
“We are reticent to render decisive predictions at this time.”
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