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At least, that’s what one gathers from the defacing he did to Mr. Maounis’s e-card sent out to investors in the new, less Brian Hunter-y fund, Verition, pictured here.
And the response by the Amaranth investor who for some reason was on the distribution list. Continue reading »
A few years back, a hedge fund in Greenwich went out of business. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. Was called Amaranth Advisors. Was run by a guy named Nick Maounis. Had this lovable goof of a Canuck named Brian Hunter making natural-gas trades. Brian was always up for a good laugh and one day, on a lark, put on some trades that resulted in the firm losing, I don’t know, like $6.6 billion. It’s was hilarious! Maybe you had to be there, but I’m telling you, it was pant-pissingly funny. Definitely one of the best things to happen to the hedge fund community in a while.
Anyway, some people, namely Amaranth clients, who are humorless stiffs, didn’t find the blow up that funny. So even though Maounis who, FYI, has yet to get investors their money, was chomping at the bit to get things going again he had to lay low for a while. He and other members of Team A dispersed and went pretty much radio silent. Maounis told everyone not to contact him, and to instead wait for his signal. And now, the time has come. Continue reading »
Passing on the torch.
A few years back, a hedge fund in Greenwich went out of business. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. Was called Amaranth Advisors. Was run by a guy named Nick Maounis. Had this lovable goof of a Canuck named Brian Hunter making natural-gas trades. Brian was always up for a good laugh and one day, on a lark, put on some trades that resulted in the firm losing, I don’t know, like $6.6 billion. It’s was hilarious! Maybe you had to be there, but I’m telling you, it was pant-pissingly funny. Definitely one of the best things to happen to the hedge fund community in a while. Anyway, some people who didn’t find it so funny, because they’re humorless stiffs, were AA’s investors. And apparently, they’re still not over it, which would explain why they are RUINING the best news ev-ar, which is that the guy who brought you Bri-Hunt is starting a new shop!
Maounis’s efforts come as some clients from his original Amaranth fund are fuming that they still haven’t received all their cash back. More than $250 million remains tied up in that firm. Some investors aren’t placated by the fact that Mr. Maounis faces constraints in returning cash amid lawsuits. Some Amaranth investors have lost patience. “It’s outrageous. The fund supposedly was liquidated four years ago, and I just want to be done with it,” said Donald Shapiro, a Boston-area investor who put $1 million of his family’s savings into Amaranth in 2001.
Paul Touradji knows his way around a courtroom. He also knows how to write a strongly-worded countersuit. So if you’re planning to tussle with him, you’d better have your ducks in a row.
Nick Maounis failed to heed this advice in September, but he’s (wisely) had a change of heart, with a little help from Touradji. The Amaranth Advisors founder had his corpse of a hedge fund sue Touradji Capital Management for breach of contract and insider-trading, pointing the finger squarely at its namesake.
Well, Paul Touradji has set Nick straight, and the latter offers up a sufficiently meek “explanation” for why he backed down in a joint statement.
…since filing the summons and notice, and consistent with their role as fiduciaries, the Amaranth parties have continued their investigation of the claims and of the transaction. Since then, Amaranth has received and evaluated additional information regarding the transaction, including trading records and other information voluntarily provided by Touradji Capital, that is consistent with Touradji Capital’s position that it did not violate the agreement with Amaranth and did not misuse Amaranth’s proprietary information.
Well, we have it on good authority that the “information” voluntarily provided by Touradji included a draft countersuit. Selections follow.
