It’s been a schizophrenic month for a hedge fund run by buyout kingpin Steve Schwarzman’s Blackstone Group.
The firm’s $2.5 billion hedge fund Kailix got pummeled in the first half of August, posting monthly losses of more than 12 percent as of Aug. 15, according to performance stats obtained by The Post. For early August, the fund was down 14 percent for the year, according to the data.
But the long-short equity fund apparently has miraculously recovered from much of the damage, posting a loss of just 3.6 percent for the year – and 1.9 percent for the month – as of yesterday, according to a person familiar with the fund.
Blackstone officials declined to comment, but some hedge-fund experts say Kailix’s recovery could turn out to be a common trait this month as hedge funds got whipsawed on seesawing financial stocks and energy prices.
“I would say the first 10 trading days of August were very difficult, but we have experienced a bounce-back over the last 10 days or so,” explained one hedge fund official who asked not to be identified.
Hitting hedge funds at the start of August was some of the same stuff that slammed them in July, including the unexpected dive in oil prices combined with a pop in Wall Street stocks, fund watchers say.
Also pressuring returns was a massive unwinding of some of the trades that led to the July beatings, people said.
But conditions flip-flopped more recently, as oil has begun spiking again. Crude closed at $118.15 yesterday, up sharply from recent lows of $113 a barrel.
Also down in mid-August was Highview Global Macro fund, which sank 12 percent for the month and was off 14.7 percent for the year. RAB Capital’s Special Situations Fund dropped 5 percent by mid-August.
Officials from those firms could not be immediately reached for comment.