Highland Capital Management, L.P., a Dallas-based, SEC-registered investment adviser with approximately $23 billion in assets under management issued the following response to a lawsuit from the Houston Municipal Employees Pension System:
Highland Capital believes this lawsuit is both without merit and misleading.
In our view, this suit represents a single plaintiff’s law firm attempting to create financial leverage for one party’s benefit at the expense of all other investors and derail the investor-led mediation process that is substantially complete. In fact, this same law firm tried to derail the successful, investor-driven process that led to the recent, equitable resolution for the Highland Credit Strategies hedge fund. Similarly, we do not expect this meritless suit to impede the approval of a final plan of distribution for Crusader in the coming weeks.
Highland would also like to correct some of the most egregious misrepresentations in this complaint:
Since the start of 2008, Highland has not reduced its exposure to Crusader by one dollar. In fact, Highland increased its Crusader investment by $15 million, waived $9 million in fees, and recovered over $24 million from counterparties.
Highland does not have a small exposure to the fund; instead, Highland’s and its affiliates’ total current investment is $90-110 million, depending on the final plan splits, making Highland one of the fund’s largest investors.
Highland continues to maximize Crusader’s performance, helping the fund nearly double in value over the last two years.
Highland has worked tirelessly in the best interest of all investors. As soon as the resolution from the investor-led process is approved, which we believe will happen imminently, we expect this meritless lawsuit to be dismissed.
About Highland Capital Management, L.P.
Highland Capital Management, L.P. is a SEC-registered investment adviser with approximately $23 billion of assets under management. It is one of the largest and most experienced global alternative fixed income managers, specializing in bank loans, high yield credit, distressed debt, structured products, real assets, and long-short equities.
Highland’s diversified client base includes public pension plans, foundations and endowments, corporations, financial institutions, fund of funds, governments, high net worth individuals, and mutual fund investors. To best meet the different goals of these investors, Highland offers a variety of product types, including credit funds, private equity-style funds, managed separate accounts, hedge funds, retail mutual funds, and collateralized loan obligations (CLOs).
Highland is headquartered in Dallas, Texas and maintains offices in New York, London and Singapore.
