Billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson posted a 4.2 percent gain last month in a fund that seeks to profit from a U.S. economic recovery, according to a person with knowledge of the returns.
Paulson’s Recovery Fund has risen 39 percent this year, said the person, who asked not to be named because the information is private. The September gain came from investments in asset-management firms, hotels and insurance companies, the person said. Paulson’s recovery strategy has about $2.2 billion in assets.
Armel Leslie, a spokesman for New York-based Paulson & Co. at WalekPeppercomm, declined to comment on the returns, which were reported earlier today by Reuters.
Paulson, 57 and known for making $15 billion for his investors in 2007 by betting against subprime mortgages before the housing collapse, is rebounding from losses tied to gold and two years of wrong-way calls on the economy. The average hedge fund returned 0.9 percent last month and 6.5 percent in 2013 through September, based on the Bloomberg Hedge Funds Aggregate Index.
Paulson’s merger fund, Paulson Partners, climbed 2.9 percent in September, extending its 2013 gain to 14 percent, said the person. Paulson Partners Enhanced, a version of the strategy that has borrowed money, rose 2.6 percent in September and about 25 percent for the year. The merger strategy, the firm’s biggest, with about $6 billion, benefited from health- care and energy transactions, the person said.
Paulson’s Advantage fund, which seeks to profit from corporate events such as takeovers and bankruptcies, rose 1.2 percent last month and 12 percent for the year, and the Advantage Plus fund, which includes leverage, gained 1.3 percent in September and 16 percent in 2013.
