(Reuters) Billionaire investor David Einhorn told investors on Friday that losses at his hedge fund Greenlight Capital grew this month, leaving the fund down nearly 28 percent for the year.
The firm sent an investor update after the close of business on Friday informing clients the fund lost 3.6 percent net of fees in November, bringing the loss for the first 11 months of the year to 27.7 percent, according to a copy of the update seen by Reuters.
The decline puts Einhorn, whose stock picks are closely watched on Wall Street, among the industry’s biggest losers for the year. The update did not say what caused the damage in November.
Some of Einhorn’s biggest holdings, including Brighthouse Financial Inc. and GM, lost ground during the month but regained their footing to end the month only a little lower. He has also had a long-running bet against electric car maker Tesla, whose stock recovered from a slump in October and is now roughly unchanged on the year.
The stock market moved higher late in the month on hopes that the Federal Reserve might slow its pace of interest rate hikes and that the United States and China might find common ground on trade talks.
For many hedge funds, however, the month is expected to have been another tough one after October already took a bite out of returns, investors said, adding that more clients might be ready to ask for their money back.
Through October, returns at hedge funds fell an average of nearly 1 percent, according to data from Preqin.
Einhorn’s fund allows investors to exit in June and December. A spokesman declined to comment.
