In this week’s hedge fund spotlight, we look at emerging hedge fund managers Mudrick Capital Management and Mistral Capital Partners. Mudrick Capital is a distressed-focused hedge fund manager that launched its maiden fund this month. The firm is led by Chief Investment Officer Jason Mudrick who previously ran the Contrarian Equity Fund, a distressed hedge fund, at Contrarian Capital Management. Mr. Mudrick has previously served on the Board of Directors of several public and private companies, including: Salton, Inc., Integrated Alarm Services Group, Inc., and Safety-Kleen Holdco.
Mr. Mudrick leads the firm’s investment efforts along with senior analyst Victor Danh who oversees the firm’s research team. Mr. Danh previously worked alongside Mr. Mudrick when they were both at Contrarian Capital. From 2003 to 2009, Mr. Danh was an Assistant Portfolio Manager at Contrarian focusing on deep value and distressed investments in a wide range of industries across the entire capital structure.
Mudrick Capital’s research team also includes analysts Jonathan Lauer and Shankar Murugavell. Mr. Lauer and Mr. Murugavell were both previously at UBS Investment Bank where they were analysts in the Global Industrials Group and Mergers & Acquisitions Group, respectively.
The second featured hedge fund this week is Boston-based Mistral Capital Partners LLC, which launched its flagship Tailwinds Fund on January 1st of 2008. Mistral Capital, which utilizes a long-biased alpha-generating strategy, seeks to invest in companies experiencing “strong fundamental tailwinds.”
Mistral’s Tailwinds Fund has posted solid returns for both the month of July and year to date, 6.04% and 42.5%, respectively. It’s 42.5% year to date return outperformed that of the S&P 500, which was up 9.32% year to date through July. The Barclay’s Equity Long Biased Hedge Index was up 5.18% for July and 18.06% year to date.
Mistral Capital was founded in 2007 by President and Chief Investment Officer McLane Cover. Prior to founding Mistral, Mr. Cover was an Associate Portfolio Manager at the Hartford Investment Management Company (HIMCO). Mistral’s Chief Operating Officer, Sarah Driscoll, previously worked alongside Mr. Cover at HIMCO where she was the head of Global Equity Trading. The firm’s investment team also includes senior research analysts Sam Singer and Abbott Lawrence. Mr. Stringer was previously a senior research analyst at State Street Global Markets, while Mr. Lawrence was a senior research analyst at Winslow Management.
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