Pirate Capital put out a statement saying that the press has been publishing "grossly misleading information" about their shrinking funds:
Pirate Capital issued the following statement today:
Various media have published grossly misleading information regarding results at funds managed by Pirate Capital. Some reports have suggested that Pirate funds lost almost 80 percent of their value in the past year. In fact, while assets under management have decreased, average returns over Pirate’s four funds during the last year are about plus 4 percent.
Pirate Capital remains committed to its event-driven strategy to create value for its investors.
We love the squishy language he uses above — it makes us even more skeptical. "Average returns"? Everybody knows there are lots of ways to calculate averages so that’s not very helpful. Not a very convincing or effective spin job. If the assets under management haven’t "decreased" by 80% why doesn’t Tom Hudson just set the record straight and come clean the way so many others have about their results? Absent that, the rumors will continue to swirl.
We know we’re not the only skeptics out there. Some of our buddies, who know him very well from his Goldman days (and admittedly don’t like him very much), aren’t impressed. They say that he’s been known to spin a tale or two to protect his butt. Sounds like nothing’s changed. We eagerly await real numbers.
Tags: Hedge funds, Pirate Capital
