John Devaney Kept His Fund Alive Because He Wasn't Guided By Dollars And Cents

Posted by Bess Levin, Jul 10, 2008, 9:25am

devaney.03.jpgAs you know, United Capital Markets founder John Devaney announced that he'll be liquidating his Horizon hedge funds after they failed to meet margin calls from Deutsche Bank. Many of you are probably wondering-- what the hell took him so long? It was over a year ago that Devaney suspended redemption requests in the funds and was forced to put his beloved and comically named yacht, Positive Carry, up for sale, in addition to his 16-bedroom home in Aspen and his waterfront mansion in Miami. Then in September, after an unnamed bank seized 40 percent of the equity in Devaney's hedge funds, and his accountants and lawyers told him play time was over, Skipper still said no, I'm not ready to give up on these things. What possessed JD to forge on, despite hundreds of millions of (negative dollar) signs telling him it was time to pack it in? Insanity? A fundamental lack of understanding for how these things work ("The ATM spit me out an extra 20-- WILL THAT SAVE US?")? Post traumatic stress disorder developed after witnessing the terrifying event that was selling PC? None of the above. As Devaney told DealBook, "Other guys who are only looking at dollars and cents would have shut the fund down," he said. "I have battled it out to try to save all my investors."

Hedge Fund Manager Describes Rock Bottom [DealBook]

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Comments

Posted by guest, Jul 10, 2008 9:28AM

Wachovia just got a new CEO.

Posted by guest, Jul 10, 2008 9:47AM

@9:28 - Dude, I read about the new Wachovia CEO in my local Main Street newspaper earlier this morning. Thanks for mentioning it though. BTW, it wasn't from the online version; it was in the actual paper that was delivered to my house.

Posted by guest, Jul 10, 2008 9:55AM

Pretty funny that even Joe Kernen noted how suspicious it was to have another Goldman guy take the reins at a bank.

Paulson's minions spreading out to take over the world.

Posted by guest, Jul 10, 2008 10:01AM

It sounds like Devaney attempted to honor his fiduciary duty to his investors. I think that is a rarity in today's environment.

Anybody think that Old Crab Claws and his associate, the distinguished Hamilton E. James, would try to give even the faintest impression that they had any interest in the security of OPM? Anybody??

Posted by guest, Jul 10, 2008 10:06AM

The industry is populated with guys like Devaney. Their egos are larger than life and it prevents them from making rational choices. It was not about saving his clients, trust me.

Posted by guest, Jul 10, 2008 10:08AM

Shouldn't it be "dollars and sense" instead of "cents"?

Posted by guest, Jul 10, 2008 10:22AM

@ 10:08,

No, read the quote.

Posted by guest, Jul 10, 2008 10:30AM

@9:28 Have you heard any news about Bear Stearns? Word is spreading that they are going down.

Posted by guest, Jul 10, 2008 10:49AM

@930- Holy shit I'm still reacting to this LTCM news that just came over the wire.

Posted by mrpink, Jul 10, 2008 12:26PM

Dude Askin Capital just blew up on Mortgages!!!!!!!!

What's this LTCM?

-mrp

Posted by guest, Jul 10, 2008 12:33PM

@ 10:49 and 10:30

you guys stop using this breaking news to distract me from this awesome dot-com company I'm going to take public!

Posted by guest, Jul 10, 2008 2:21PM

@ 10:22

It was a joke. Relax.

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