When CNBC commentator Ron Insana went into hedge fund management nearly two years ago, there was a lot of snickering that this signaled "irrational exuberance" in the market. David Weidner at Market Watch wrote that "it's probably time for everyone else to get out."
Insana's fund, called the Legends Fund, was structured as a fund of funds. Its business plan was to give investors exposure to hedge funds they might otherwise be shut out of. Specifically, Insana offered investors access to SAC Capital Advisors, Renaissance Technologies Corp., Perry Corp. Third Point, Omega Advisors and Icahn Management.
But with hedge fund investment drying up, Insana's fund seems to have run into trouble. Yesterday CNBC's Melissa Lee reported that Insana Capital Partners, which ran legends, was closing up shop.
Over at Naked Shorts, our friend Greg Newton runs the numbers on Insana's forray into hedge fund management. At one point the Legends Fund had $116.3 million under management, and it charged a 1.5% annual fee. That means Insana Capital Partners might have taken in around $2 million during its brief stint. The fund was down 5.4% through July 31st, according to Newton. Coupled with a 2.5% "sales charge," Newtown figures Insana's investors are out roughly 10 per cent over the fund's life.
So does the close of the Legends Fund mean that it's time to get back into hedge funds? Not so fast. Apparently Insana has taken a job with SAC Capital.
Insana upgrades, from Fort Lee to Scamford [Naked Shorts]
Insana Capital doesn't leave 'em laughing [Naked Shorts]
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2008 10:10AM
You usin the whole fist doc?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/health/12well.html?8dpc
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2008 10:50AM
I am absolutely SHOCKED to learn that a talking head wasn't actually an expert in the world of leveraged finance.
Now that we have the one impostor weeded out, we can all go back to being wowed by the various financial television offerings.
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2008 11:18AM
I hear Gasbag is close to leaving CNBC to launch Stugats and Oogats Management LLC...
Posted by Lowly Assistant , Aug 12, 2008 11:37AM
haha
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2008 12:09PM
Paging Mr. Kudlow, Mr. Larry Kudlow...Please raise your pinky fingered, Princeton "attended" (but not graduated) hand...
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2008 12:52PM
Renaissance is up some 48% through the first half, how low was Insana's weighting in that fund to have a net loss? Wow..
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2008 12:56PM
He's insana in the membrane.
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2008 1:05PM
does insana have to take female hormones and start wearing a dress within two weeks or two months of start date?
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2008 1:36PM
@8: I'd assume two weeks.
Posted by guest , Aug 12, 2008 2:18PM
@5: nobody takes him seriously anyway
Posted by miami , Aug 12, 2008 2:52PM
6 - I'd assume he wasn't in Medallion, which has been closed to outsiders for several years.
And let's not pretend there was 'snickering' some of us were wholesale ROFLMAOing when DB called pitching this nonsense.
Posted by guest , Aug 19, 2008 5:19PM
I'm waiting for Dennis Kneale to start a fund.