Business

Street talk: Pandit packing for London hedges

The buzz on Wall Street is that ousted Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit will return to the hedge-fund world.

UK hedge fund Portman Square Capital declined to comment on chatter that its founder, Sutesh Sharma, is eager to nab Pandit for his new firm.

Sharma, a former money manager at Pandit’s now defunct Old Lane hedge fund, launched Portman this year with $500 million.

“We are not commenting on anything to do with Vikram or Citi at the moment,” a spokeswoman said.

His future is uncertain after he stepped down this week after five years on the job. Citi veteran Michael Corbat was named as his successor.

Pandit’s hedge-fund stint is the stuff of legend. A year after he launched Old Lane in 2006, he sold it to Citi for a cool $800 million, netting him $165 million.

By the end of 2007, despite flat returns for the $4 billion fund, Pandit was crowned Citi’s new chief. But redemptions forced Citi to shutter Old Lane a few months later, resulting in a loss of $202 million.

Nevertheless, Pandit is viewed by the hedge fund community as a rainmaker due to his ties to deep-pocketed investors.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he felt the timing was right to join an existing fund . . . or start his own fund,” said Robert Olman of hedge-fund search firm Alpha Search Advisory Partners.

with Michelle Celarier