Today’s New York Times highlights the troubles at a Stamford-based hedge fund whose Westport co-founder reportedly has begun shutting down the business after credit market loses.
“Mark S. Fishman was a modern prince of the markets — a pedigreed money manager who raised billions of dollars at the height of the hedge fund boom,” the newspaper said. But it said last week his dream collapsed.
“Hobbled by bad trades in the credit markets, Mr. Fishman began to shut the fund he helped found, Sailfish Capital Partners, which oversaw $2 billion just six months ago, investors said,” the Times reported.
The newspaper said on Monday Fishman, 47, sat in the paneled Princeton Club of New York, explaining what it was like to battle the markets — and lose.
“It feels like someone has died,” Fishman said, his eyes welling up, according to the Times. “We’ve disappointed people, and there is no one more disappointed than me.”
The Times said Sailfish seemed like a hedge fund that might weather the storm.
“Before founding the fund, Mr. Fishman spent seven years working for Steven A. Cohen, the founder of SAC Capital Advisors, another hedge fund based in Stamford, Conn.,” the Times said.
His co-founder was Sal Naro, a friend who worked at UBS.
Last Thursday, Sailfish started to alert investors that the fund was likely to shut down, the newspaper said, quoting two investors.
The fund met all its margin calls and has ample cash, said one investor who spoke with one of the principals, the Times said.
Neither of the fund managers would confirm that the fund was closing, the newspaper said, but it said Fishman did say what it was like to lose money for investors, including himself.
“It’s that sad dawning when you realize the market is so much bigger than you are,” he said, according to the Times.
