Administration January 19, 2007

San Diego County Fund Gets $48M Repaid in Amaranth Collapse

January 19, 2007 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A California pension plan that lost $175 million in the celebrated collapse of Amaranth Advisors has recouped just over a quarter of its money.
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A news release Friday from the San Diego County Employees Retirement Association (SDCERA) said that, as of January 16, 2007, it has received approximately $48.2 million in partial distributions.

The fund said in its announcement that Amaranth has informed SDCERA that there will likely be additional distributions in the first quarter of 2007.

Fund officials said in the news release that they are unsure how much they will ultimately be able to collect in the failed investment deal (See  SD County Pension Nearly Doubles Loss Estimate from Amaranth Collapse ).

Amaranth lost about $4.6 billion in 2006 on bad wagers on natural-gas prices. This left it down about 35%, or $2.6 billion, for the year.

According to Securities and Exchange Commission filings, investors in Amaranth included fund-of-funds managed by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse Group and Deutsche Bank AG. Morgan Stanley’s Institutional Fund of Hedge Funds had about $126 million, or 5.48% of its assets, invested in Amaranth as of June 30.

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