The Fortress Macro Fund has gained 12.75 percent for the year, as of the end of October. The fund turned a gain of 1.46 percent in last month. Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE:FIG) has done better than many other hedge funds in this year so far. We have previously reported a better than expected third quarter for the asset managers. The total AUM of the group is $51.5 billion including the addition of $3.5 billion in third quarter. Fortress shares have appreciated by 24 percent year to date.
Contrary to the healthy performance of Fortress, London based Man Group PLC (LON:EMG)’s shares have declined by 38 percent in this year. Man Group also lost more than $2 billion from its assets under management in the third quarter. Man Group PLC (LON:EMG)’s lackluster performance in the year has made it a choice for short sellers, Lansdowne Partners Limited and AQR Capital Management have a short position in 1.71 percent and 1.29 percent of Man Group’s shares. Man Group’s largest fund, AHL has underperformed in the present year.
Competing public hedge funds like Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC (NYSE:OZM)’s flagship fund, Och-Ziff Master Fund, gained 8.75 percent in the three quarters of 2012. Och-Ziff shares are up by 9.5 percent for the year so far. Och-Ziff’s AUM rose from $29.9 billion in second quarter of 2012, to $31.3 billion in the third quarter.
The monthly commentary of the Fortress Macro fund letter emphasizes that the guidance for Q4 2012 is still too high and is not accounting for fiscal cliff’s damage in full. More bouts of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve are expected to come into play in late December that will entail a new round of treasury buying program. The fund also expects that a detailed and practical resolution of tax reforms of fiscal cliff could extend till the mid of 2013. The Macro fund gained on its longs in Spanish and Brazilian fixed income rates, with losses in the Mexican peso.
