Meredith Whitney, who started a hedge fund after becoming one of Wall Street's most famous analysts, has found it harder to bet on stocks than scrutinize them. Her fund is down 11 percent this year through last month, its main investor has demanded money back, top executives have left and her full-floor Madison Avenue office is now on the market.
Her American Revival Fund LP fell in eight of the past 11 months and was up less than 1 percent in two others, returns reviewed by Bloomberg News show. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up about 12 percent over that span.
Soured investments include a loss of more than $2 million on Conn's Inc., an electronics retailer that dropped 56 percent in that period, according to a person with knowledge of her fund who asked for anonymity to describe its performance.
"Meredith – at least in my view, having known her for years — is a brilliant, insightful investor and analyst," her attorney, Stanley Arkin, said by phone Friday. "And this has been a very volatile, unusual year in the marketplace."
A fund connected to billionaire Michael Platt's BlueCrest Capital Management has asked to redeem its investment at least twice, according to the person with knowledge of Whitney's firm, Kenbelle Capital LP. It started trading in November 2013 with about $50 million from BlueCrest partners and other investors, a fund presentation showed then.
'Furniture Available'
A year later, her office, a 5,500-square-foot space in a Madison Avenue high-rise, is now available to be subleased, according to a listing. It advertises "excellent views on 3 sides; executive bathroom; furniture available."
Kenbelle co-founder Stephen Schwartz, Chief Financial Officer Andrew Turchin, and Chief Administrative Officer Brittani Caetano have left the firm.
