Monday, May 18, 2009

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes At SAC Capital

Picture 1381.pngBeen dying to get into Club SAC Capital but were uncomfortable with the idea of parting with a sizable chunk of change for several years at a time? We come bearing exciting news. Our favorite Stamfordians are opening the fund June 1, with terms you might feel more comfortable getting behind. Here's the deal: legacy fees (3 & 50), no side pocket for new investors, no fund level gate, 25% investor level gate, and, wait for it, quarterly liquidity with no lockup. Previously, admission to Club SAC came with a three-year initial hard lock, so I don't think I have to tell you people, this is huge (even with the gate). But in case it didn't penetrate, let me put it this way:

mdsiren.gifmdsiren.gifQuarterly. With. No. Lockup.mdsiren.gifmdsiren.gif

What else, what else. More capacity might be offered later in the year, which may or may not be an institutional class, most likely with a lower fee (probably 20%), maybe with a lockup. There is a possibility this will be with a pass through structure, which Steve-O has apparently been pushing for some time. Currently, the big boy takes an incentive fee at the fund level, and pays his cabal of (75ish) portfolio managers out of that, meaning he takes on the netting risk. If the fund loses money in a given year (like, for example: 2008), Stever has no incentive fee coming in and must pay the PMs who actually performed (the 2 of them...kidding! 3?) out of his own pocket. (And, actually, the pot of gold intended to go toward animals-in-formaldehyde is at risk even in up years, depending on the distribution of the returns.) So if the netting risk could be put on the investors, that'd be nice.

Other siren-worthy, not business-as-usual business going down at 72 Cummings Point Road: whereas in years past Cohen wouldn't meet with investors, he is now apparently shilling the hell out of this thing. In addition to recently making a trip to London and Geneva to pay lip service, the big guy caused many a mouth to drop by participating in Goldman Sachs Cap Intro event last week at Chelsea Piers (though, of course, his presence could've merely been a result of getting lost trying to find the rock climbing wall, which would explain the spandex and harness). No offense to our 85 Broad brethren or its other guests, but this thing is, for all intents and purposes, supposed to be a meet and greet where lesser entities speak in awe of the greatness that is Mr. Zamboni, not a place one might expect to get a glimpse of, much less actually converse with, said legend.*

That's all for now, ladies. We'll keep you abreast of any new developments.

*The fact that he showed up was surely a sweet celeb sighting for everyone else, but might be viewed by some as a cheapening of the brand for SAC.

No comments:

Lunch is for wimps

Lunch is for wimps
It's not a question of enough, pal. It's a zero sum game, somebody wins, somebody loses. Money itself isn't lost or made, it's simply transferred from one perception to another.