Moore Capital Management, the hedge fund firm started by Louis Bacon, is returning outside capital to investors, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Principals who work for the firm will continue to invest through Moore’s fund, the person said. Bacon is not shutting down the firm, which he founded about three decades ago, or converting to a family office, according to the person.
“The time is propitious to take a step I have eyed for some time and ‘privatize’ our three multi manager flagship funds — that is to say returning client assets and funding the multi-manager program with private capital from the principals at MCM,” Bacon said in a letter to investors that was reviewed by Institutional Investor.
After returning outside money, the three funds – Moore Global Investments, Remington Investment Strategies, and Moore Macro Advisors — will be consolidated into single, proprietary fund, according to the letter. Bacon told investors that while “disappointing results” of these funds over the last few years informed his decision, the firm remained proud of its long-term performance.
Moore’s original, flagship Remington funds have returned a net annualized 17.6 percent since inception, according to the letter. Moore Global Investments gained 15 percent on annualized basis, while Moore Macro Advisors posted an 11 percent return over a shorter lifespan. All three funds have returned “low single digits” this year, Bacon said.
Privatizing Moore’s macro funds will “allow me more personal time for a large family, philanthropic pursuits, and to continue to develop a number of sports-oriented properties — all with the flexibility to ‘stay in the picture’ or not as things develop,” he said. His Moore Charitable Foundation, founded in 1992, backs conservation nonprofits that protect threatened landscapes and bodies of water, according to its website.
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The New York-based firm’s consolidated fund will continue “to trade and invest with the same line-up of portfolio managers, but with less participation from me,” Bacon told investors.
“Intense competition for trading talent coupled with client pressure on fees has led to a challenging business model for multi-manager funds such as ours,” he said in the letter. “Our move to a proprietary funded asset base will allow us to be more opportunistic in acquiring investment talent and more competitive with those whom have a ‘pass through’ structure.”
The Financial Times reported earlier this morning that Moore was shutting down and returning capital to investors.
