Wagner: Drawdown Fund
Knighthead Capital Management, a distressed-debt hedge fund founded in 2008, is raising money for its first drawdown fund to make opportunistic wagers.
Knighthead, which saw its assets shrink slightly to $3 billion last year, is using a strategy more commonly found at private equity firms. The drawdown fund gives the firm money it can use later once events, such as bankruptcies and defaults, arise.
The firm is pursuing as much as $750 million for the fund. Wagner, the co-founder, told Bloomberg TV that his firm hopes the fund opens the door to a new set of investors.
“We believe that the credit cycle is nearing or has neared its end and the number of new opportunities will increase significantly in the quarters ahead,” Wagner said by telephone last week.
Cohen: Venture Capital
Cohen, a hedge fund billionaire, is upbeat about venture capital these days.
His Point72 Asset Management has talked to investors about the possibility of raising outside capital for a venture fund that could exceed $750 million, Bloomberg reported in November. The move comes as investors put more money behind venture deals in the first three quarters of 2018 than in all of 2017, according to a report by KPMG.
Cohen, who makes venture investments in AI and fintech with his own money through Point72 Ventures, said recently that he aims to build out a full-scale operation. He predicted ho-hum hedge fund returns over the next two years and money continuing to flow into index investing.
“The world keeps changing and if you want to stay in this business, you got to change, you got to keep changing,” he said in November at the 92nd Street Y in New York. The firm, which manages $13 billion, declined to comment.