Hedge fund Davidson Kempner to close its Distressed Opportunities Fund, letter shows
Adds quotes and context from letter from paragraph 3
By Nell Mackenzie
LONDON, Sept 6 (Reuters) -Hedge fund Davidson Kempner will close one of its funds amid a tougher environment for hedge funds that buy into the debt of distressed companies hoping to make money from their comeback, a letter sent to investors and seen by Reuters on Friday shows.
The Davidson Kempner Distressed Opportunities Fund, which oversaw roughly $2 billion, was still making money for the $38 billion investment manager, said the letter.
The fund was up 5% for the year so far, but the returns were not good enough, the letter said.
No current investor had lost money in the fund, it added.
In the first 12 years the fund was active, there was plenty of liquidity, opportunity to restructure, and plenty of interest if a company wanted to return to public markets with a new offering after it restructured.
But now, there's more opportunity in credit, such as corporate bonds or structured deals, it said.
"A prolonged period of interest rates near zero and the weakening of covenants and lender protections following the Global Financial Crisis contributed to a significant decline in corporate default rates, bankruptcies and restructurings; this led to a declining opportunity set in liquid public market restructurings," said the letter.
As of the end of May, there had been 69 corporate defaults this year, S&P Global Ratings said in a report published in June. While this was above a five-year average, it was below the 71 in the same period in 2023, said the report.
Company default rates have fallen after a decade of near zero interest rates while loan terms and protections have weakened for lenders to ailing companies, like Davidson Kempner, said the letter.
Davidson Kempner will still invest in distressed assets but believes they would be better suited in the hedge fund's closed-end fund and as part of its multi-strategy funds, rather than its Distressed Opportunities Fund, the letter said.
The lead fund managers on the Distressed Opportunities Fund will not leave Davidson Kempner, said a source close to the matter.
Reporting by Nell Mackenzie; Editing by Dhara Ranasinghe and Mark Potter
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