New York (HedgeCo.net) – Having a hedge fund announce that it was closing its doors and returning investor money has been a theme this year. A number of funds have announced such plans and many of the funds that are closing have cited redemptions and performance in the plans. However, Tiger Veda Management announced that it was closing shop last month, but the closure has nothing to do with performance or redemptions.

The firm is managed by Manish Chopra and was one of the funds seeded by Julian Robertson in what are known as the “tiger cubs.” The closing of the fund was featured in an article from FinAlternatives last week and the article included a quote from Chopra on why he was closing up shop.

“I have been frustrated by the paucity of meaningful long ideas in a bull market nearing the completion of its 7th straight year,” writes Chopra in the memo. “Valuations are efficient or ebullient with little room for error priced in, even as risks to global economic growth build up. Finding a new ‘value’ long investment has become a needle in a haystack process, and low hanging fruit are few and far between.”

Chopra also added, “With a rising equity market post-2009…shorting stocks became a different game than when we launched the fund. Today, it is betting against the house, with fellow hedge funds, corporates, bankers and governments, all being inimical to profits. With cash balances increasing even above recent history in 2015, we have disabused ourselves of the notion that we are best served to wait it out patiently.”

What does it say about the market that a long/short fund is closing up shop because they have found it too difficult to find good bullish ideas and compares shorting stocks to “betting against the house”?

Rick Pendergraft
Research Analyst
HedgeCoVest