JPMorgan Is Liquidating $1 Billion Credit Hedge Fund Led by Fahad Roumani

(Bloomberg) -- JPMorgan Asset Management is liquidating a $1 billion credit hedge fund led by Fahad Roumani after abandoning a plan to spin it off, according to a letter to investors seen by Bloomberg News.

The Palm Lane Credit Opportunities Fund, which started with initial capital from JPMorgan Chase & Co., earlier this year reversed a decision to transfer the management contract to a separate company, according to the letter dated June 13. JPMorgan didn’t give a reason for the decision and a spokeswoman for the fund declined to comment.

“This has not been an easy decision and it has been driven by a number of factors,” JPMorgan said in the letter. It aims to return most of the money to investors by the end of the year.

While closures slowed in the first quarter, more hedge funds closed than started over the past three years as investors asked for their money back because of mediocre returns. Earlier this year, Blockhouse Capital Management shuttered after two years of trading, joining peers such as Neil Chriss to Andy Hall who’ve closed funds since 2017.

The JPMorgan fund has returned more than 50 percent since it opened, with no down year, according to the letter. The fund gave back about a quarter of the assets to investors in July.

The money manager waived management fees for investors from May 1 onward, but continued to charge performance fees, according to the letter. The fund was above its high-water mark at the end of May, meaning it was eligible to charge performance fees.

The fund employed about 23 people.

--With assistance from Suzy Waite.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nishant Kumar in London at nkumar173@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sree Vidya Bhaktavatsalam at sbhaktavatsa@bloomberg.net, Andrew Blackman, Keith Campbell

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