When it was established in April, Pacre’s startup capital included $450 million from the “principals” of Paulson’s hedge fund, according to A.M. Best. While A.M. Best didn’t name the principals, Paulson owns about 53 percent of his firm’s assets under management, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, and at least 75 percent of the firm. No other officer of the firm owns even 5 percent, according to a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission last year.
Bloomberg estimates Paulson’s net worth at $11.2 billion. He opened his money management firm in 1994, and rose to fame in 2007 after a wager against the collapsing U.S. subprime mortgage market generated billions in profits. Paulson told a Congressional hearing in 2008 that all of his personal investments were with Paulson & Co., which now manages about $18 billion in assets. He announced plans last year to donate $100 million to conserve Manhattan’s Central Park, steps from his six-story townhouse.
The other $50 million for Pacre came from Validus, to which Pacre outsources its underwriting. Validus sold premiums worth 32 percent of its equity in the most recent nine months.
Pacre invested the entire $500 million in startup capital in four Paulson & Co. hedge funds. Through December, those investments have lost about $19 million in value. Since the funds lost money, the Paulson investors wouldn’t have owed income taxes anyway.