“The Blackstone Group, the largest outside investor in the hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors, said it would keep most of its $550 million with the hedge fund for three more months while it monitors developments in the government’s insider trading investigation.
Blackstone acted as SAC’s clients faced a regularly scheduled quarterly deadline on Thursday to decide whether to continue investing with the hedge fund giant run by Steven A. Cohen.
Despite posting one of the best investment records on Wall Street — returning 30 percent annually over the last two decades — SAC has been fighting to keep investors’ money as an investigation into criminal conduct at the fund has intensified. Since November, when prosecutors brought the most recent SAC-related case, against Mathew Martoma, a former SAC employee, clients have been weighing whether to continue their relationship with the fund. Mr. Martoma has denied the charges.
Large hedge fund investors like Blackstone rarely make public pronouncements about their intentions, but given the heightened interest in SAC, the investment firm issued a statement explaining the rationale for its decision.
Blackstone said the money it withdrew was in the normal course of business and was unrelated to any of SAC’s problems. Blackstone, which runs the world’s largest so-called fund of funds, placing nearly $50 billion with outside managers, is seen as a bellwether in the hedge fund industry….”
