Portus Trustee Readies to Disburse Funds

Date: Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Author: HFN Daily Report

The trustee for defunct Canadian hedge fund firm Portus Alternative Asset Management is preparing to pay back some of the investors in the ill-fated fund.

According to documents filed last week in an Ontario Superior Court by receiver KPMG, the receiver is preparing for the return of investor funds held by Concentra Trust. While about 26,000 investors poured CAN$800 million ($695 million) into Portus, millions are currently missing or dissipated.

KPMG held a meeting of creditors in June, at which point the amount of assets that could be returned to investors was still in doubt. A preliminary estimate suggested investors might get back 85.8% of their money.

Concentra will be paying dividends to individuals with provable claims against certain Portus registered plans, but not all investors will be getting their money back at this time. Calls to KPMG were not immediately returned.