Andor Capital Hemorrhages Assets

August 13, 2004 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Hedge fund Andor Capital has lost half of its assets in a month.

In July, the long/short equity manager lost approximately half of its $7 billion asset base.   About $1.5 billion of this was attributed to the departure of chief investment officer Chris James, while the remaining losses were chalked up to poor performance, according to an FT report citing an unnamed investor.

Andor sent a letter to shareholders last month, telling about the departure of James, who is leaving the group to manage his own diversified growth hedge fund.   In the letter, the hedge fund said it would liquidate its diversified growth and health-care funds , which together had about $800 million in assets.

The liquidation leaves Andor with four technology funds. “Going forward, Andor will remain focused on its core competency: managing technology long/short hedge funds,” the letter said.   However, the firm’s flagship technology fund lost money last year after it shorted tech stocks just as they started to rally. Losses continued this year as it apparently switched to buying just as the stocks started to fall.

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