(Repeats story sent Friday evening with no changes to text)
By Svea Herbst-Bayliss
BOSTON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - U.S. hedge funds are bracing for
their worst year since the 2008 financial crisis after a
dramatic sell-off in healthcare and biotechnology stocks
triggered double-digit losses for some prominent players last
month.
September's sucker punch in the biotech sector, on top of a
grim August when global markets tumbled due to fears about
slowing growth in China, have pushed many hedge fund managers
deep into the red.
"These are some of the worst numbers we have seen since the
crisis," said Sam Abbas, whose Symmetric IO tracks hedge fund
managers' returns.
The average hedge fund lost 19 percent in 2008 when the
credit crunch hit. Since then, hedge funds have had only one
down year, when they lost 5.25 percent in 2011, data from Hedge
Fund Research show.
While the biotech sector held up relatively well during the
initial market sell-off in August, it cratered in September.
"It was the last remaining bastion of alpha and a sector
where many hedge funds were hiding. Now it has succumbed," said
Peter Rup, chief executive and chief investment officer at
Artemis Wealth Advisors Llc, which invests in hedge funds.
Rup said he was expecting some big negative surprises as
more hedge funds send September returns to clients.
Larry Robbins' Glenview Capital Management tumbled 12.35
percent last month, an investor said on Friday, after bets on
Tenet Healthcare Corp (NYSE:THC) THC.N , Community Health Systems Inc
CYH.N and Mylan NV MYL.O all suffered double-digit losses.
Even though the fund was largely flat after August, it is
now off 12.8 percent for the year to date.
For Nehal Chopra's Tiger Ratan fund, which delivered some of
the year's best returns with a 21 percent gain through the end
of August, the drops in Horizon Pharma Plc HZNP.O , Valeant
Pharmaceuticals International Inc VRX.TO and Mylan Inc erased
all gains, leaving the fund in the red, two people familiar with
her returns said.
Double-digit losses in Genocea Biosciences Inc GNCA.O and
AMAG Pharmaceuticals Inc AMAG.O also dealt a blow to Jason
Karp's Tourbillion Capital Partners as the fund lost 8.12
percent in September, shrinking its year-to-date gain to 8.73
percent.
Some of America's most prominent hedge funds have seen their
returns crumble.
David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital, now off 17 percent, is
on track to post its first losses since 2008. And William
Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management's, which has a big
bet on Valeant, told investors on Thursday that its Pershing
Square Holdings portfolio is now off 12.6 percent for the year,
a big reversal of fortune after 2014's 40 percent gain.
ID:nL1N12204U
"Hedge funds are reeling from a relentless rout that has all
but killed a year's worth of alpha in a matter of two weeks,"
Stanley Altshuller, founding partner at research firm Novus,
wrote in a report.
To be sure, there are some winners in the mix as well,
including Lee Ainslie's Maverick Capital which was off only 0.7
percent through Sept. 25, leaving it up 19.7 percent for the
year.
But the sudden, sharp drops could prompt some investors to
pull their money out, even though the average fund is still
doing better than the wider market, down 3 percent for the year,
compared with a 7 percent drop in the Standard & Poor's Index,
according to preliminary data from Hedge Fund Research.
Veterans of 2008 were sanguine.
"A month or two of performance issues is to be expected in
the environment we are in," said George Hopkins, executive
director at the $14.5 billion Arkansas Teacher Retirement
System, which invests with hedge funds. "Our trustees are
battle-hardened. We survived 2008 when we stayed a course that
other people left and we benefited significantly."
(Editing by Carmel Crimmins and Jonathan Oatis)