University writes off hedge fund investment- U of Montreal's $99.6M pension stake drops to $19M

Date: Thursday, September 11, 2003

Sean Silcoff -Financial Post-The University of Montreal's pension plan has written off most of its $100-million investment in a scandal-plagued hedge fund accused of fraud by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The plan's investment manager, Andrée Mayrand, said the pension fund has written down the value of its investment in Lancer Offshore Inc. to $19-million as of June 30, after investing a total of US$67-million ($99.6-million) from 1998 to 2000. The university plan had valued the Lancer investment on its books at $147-million at the end of 2002, or 9% of its $1.7-billion in assets. Ms. Mayrand warned the plan's Lancer stake could be further devalued. The SEC froze the hedge fund's assets in July. They are now in the hands of a court-appointed receiver. For the entire article: http://www.nationalpost.com/financialpost/story.html?id=B39B4127-628E-4452-8176-ABA025530BC5