An Inglorious Anniversary: Fortress Investment Group

Nobody else seems to have noticed, but Saturday marked the first anniversary of the listing of Fortress Investment Group (FIG). FIG was the first hedge-fund/private-equity group listed in the US, and priced at $18.50; back in the days when sub-prime meant finding gristle in a fillet at Smith & Wollensky, it opened at $35, traded up to $37—still an all-time high—and closed at $31.

So how’s that worked out so far?

Not well. FIG closed Friday at $13.58. Which, to be fair, is an almost 30 percent gain over the $10.53 it hit on Jan. 22.

Anyway, special congratulations to Aircastle Ltd (AYR), a listed aircraft leasing company that dumped 11 million FIG shares at $30.80 on Oct. 10 last year for proceeds of $338.8 million.

Noted with interest: According to the somewhat less than entirely reliable Yahoo! Finance, Fortress Investment Holdings LLC owns more than half of AYR’s outstanding stock. Another major AYR holder, with 1 million shares reported that very same Oct. 10 2007, is one Wesley R. Edens. Curiously enough, or not, the very same name as FIG’s chief executive.

Comments

[DealMan:]

Greg:

You have amazing economy with words and an uncanny ability to state the obvious-i.e. Fortress has declined since its IPO.

It is a shame that you offer no insights or analysis.

2008 Feb 11 03:14 PM

[Chuck:]

I think John Banks and John Fortuna have said it best..
see www.youtube.com/watch?...

2008 Feb 12 08:20 AM

[Chuck:]

http://www.youtube.com...
for those who don't like to cut and paste.

2008 Feb 12 08:21 AM

[Klugwannnabe:]

You mentioned that AYR "dumped"FIG shares.I believe it is the other way around.FIG owned AYR shares,since they were the original financial support for AYR,and sold a quarter of their holdings,while still being a major shareholder in AYR.And the AYR shares at the time of the sale were in the low 30's.Since their initial investment was 400 Million,they have recouped a fair share of their initial investment and are still a major shareholder in AYR.Now they are playing with the House Money.Looks like a great deal to me for FIG and hopefully AYR will continue to prosper as they just borrowed 300 Million to buy more planes.

2008 Feb 24 04:18 PM