10:03 AM
Fortress Commodities Fund To Close After Losses
London - The Fortress Commodities Fund will close later this month and distribute funds to investors after poor performance and heavy withdrawals.
U.S.-based Fortress Investment Group LLC said the hedge fund will cease operations around May 23 and "will commence procedures to distribute capital to its investors," according to a regulatory filing.
The fund, run in London by William Callanan, fell 12.6 percent during the first four months of the year and 4.23 percent in April alone, the filing said.
Commodity funds at Fortress had a rocky 2011, rising 4.7 percent in the third quarter but falling 8.9 percent in the fourth, and have been hit with heavy redemptions.
Assets under management in Fortress' commodities funds slid 46 percent to $473 million during the first three months of the year, a results statement from the company showed. They are down from $875 million at the end of last year and $1.2 billion in June 2011.
Callanan joined Fortress in July 2007 after working at Rubicon Equity and Commodity Fund, and Soros Fund Management LLC.