Fortress: How Dare You Denigrate Our Losses By Calling Them Losses

Posted by Bess Levin, May 13, 2008, 4:55pm

“I think that the use of the word loss in this case is pejorative and actually not at all accurate,” sniffed [Fortress CEO Wes] Edens to Rashad Fonti, analyst from Citigroup, when the matter of FIG’s public portfolio holdings falling from $7.18 billion to $765 million was brought up in passing.


Fortress CEO to analysts: We don’t call them “losses” [Reuters]

0Recommend this! 15Comments

Tags: Fortress, losses

Comments

1

Posted by miami , May 13, 2008 5:03PM

long Wes Edens, short Citi equity research.

2

Posted by guest , May 13, 2008 5:18PM

FIG = Loser

IPO Feb '07 = $35. Today = $15

Having 90% of one's holdings go missing can hardly be called "winning".

3

Posted by guest , May 13, 2008 5:21PM

short FIG

4

Posted by guest , May 13, 2008 5:27PM

"In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king."

If this is our competition just imagine what we are capable of!

5

Posted by guest , May 13, 2008 5:41PM

yes, but in this world that we live in, the blind man thinks there is no one eyed man, and the one eyed man is oblivious of the two eyed man, and the two eyed man thinks he is crazy

6

Posted by guest , May 13, 2008 5:49PM

They are going to have more problems in the future especially on the real estate side. Just some anecdotal evidence for all of you; Winter Park Colorado has a 5 year supply of residential lots on the market right now given the absorption rate. They acquired a 75 year lease from the City of Denver on the resort and the right to develop the land with their acquisition of Intrawest. Copper is no different nor is Steamboat.

7

Posted by Self , May 13, 2008 5:56PM

LMFAO

I vote Wes (his pants) Edens DOUCHEBAG of the week!

8

Posted by guest , May 13, 2008 6:09PM

FIG is to the financial bubble what TheGlobe.com (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TheGlobe.com) was to the internet bubble.

9

Posted by guest , May 14, 2008 12:18AM

Met wes personally a year or so back. Great guy as a far as anyone on the street can be a respectable human being. But as a fund manager, he isnt great, he's brilliant. All his claim has ever been is to be patient. I know someone else has said that, pretty sure his initials are WB. Heard that guy isn't so bad either.

10

Posted by guest , May 14, 2008 8:22AM

12:18 AM: Are you Wes? "Someone else" with initials WB has never reduced his portfolio by 90%, then asked for patience, has he? I mean, look at the numbers dude.

11

Posted by guest , May 14, 2008 8:38AM

people who give edens and brigger money to manage = smart
people who buy FIG equity at IPO = stupid

12

Posted by guest , May 14, 2008 10:34AM

Bull^&$%No self-respecting (and respectable) PM would lose 90%; that's just negligence or complete lack of skill or fraud. people who give edens and brigger money to manage = dupes

13

Posted by LeverHedge , May 14, 2008 10:41AM

The IPO was at 18.50. It traded much higher.... but should they be judged by the insane mania for listed private equity-hedge funds, or by their results?

Start to look into what drives the firm's earnings, and writedowns of partner compensation and the castle investments, and your focus on Wes is really foolish. That is not where the cheddar is made, nor why its bouncing.

14

Posted by guest , May 14, 2008 11:49AM

LeverHedge@10:41AM,

The investors who gave FIG their money to manage obviously don't agree with you.

Why else would 90% of the FIG portfolio dry up?

FIG didn't make any cheddar. They ate what they had, and now nobody wants to give them more.

15

Posted by LeverHedge , May 19, 2008 1:21PM

Guest 11:49 A.M....
FIG continues to take in new assets in their hedge funds and hybrid hedge funds and have an almost unlimited call on private equity from satisfied investors.

The fact that they IPO'd some investments and those have gone down, does not make them bad money managers. Rather the opposite that they've found a way to monetize some of their early stage investments or their leveraged roll ups.

I don't know what the 90% number is. But what I do know is that their listed equity is a buy and is trading "only" down 15% from its IPO price. Their business is in good shape and even thriving in these markets.

Post Your Comment