Salida Capital’s Wolfe Says Speculation of Hedge Fund Collapse Unfounded

Date: Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Author: Sean B. Pasternak, Bloomberg

Salida Capital LP Chief Executive Officer Courtenay Wolfe said speculation that her Toronto-based hedge fund had collapsed is “unfounded.”

“Salida is not going anywhere; we’re not blowing up,” Wolfe said today in a telephone interview.

Wolfe, who along with Salida representatives paid $1.68 million in 2009 to have lunch in New York with billionaire investor Warren Buffett, said she’s talked to “key” clients and hasn’t seen an uptick in fund redemptions. She said rumors may have been started because of volatility in the equity markets.

“We’re having a difficult time in the markets, like everybody else,” Wolfe said. “Everybody sees the volatility.”

Salida told investors last month that its Salida Strategic Growth Fund fell 16 percent in August for a year-to-date loss of 19 percent.

Wolfe said at a conference in Toronto in May that commodity prices were in a correction and were poised to rebound. At the time, she said her firm managed about $900 million in assets, focusing on natural resources, with about 50 percent of the investments in Canada.

Canadian stocks fell today, led by energy companies and banks, as Europe’s finance leaders prepared to weigh the risk of a Greek debt default.

Suncor Energy Inc. (SU), Canada’s biggest oil and gas producer, lost 5.5 percent after crude oil closed at a one-year low last week. Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s biggest base-metals and coal producer, sank 7.2 percent as copper fell to a 14-month low.

The Standard & Poor’s/TSX Composite Index lost 372 points, or 3.2 percent, to 11,251.84 at 4 p.m. in Toronto. The index has dropped 16 percent this year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sean B. Pasternak in Toronto at spasternak@bloomberg.net