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HedgeCo.Net \u2014 Ken Griffin told clients in a Friday letter that Citadel has unwound more than 80% of the aggregate risk from the public-equity book it bought from Leopold Aschenbrenner\u2019s Situational Awareness hedge fund. CNBC, which obtained the letter, said the firm did that through more than 100 block trades with more than $4 billion of market value. 24\/7 Wall St., writing from the same Friday update, put the same 80% risk cut, nearly 100 blocks, and more than $4 billion of market value on the tape. That $4 billion is market value traded. It is not a profit print.<\/p>\n
The letter is the first time Griffin has confirmed Citadel as the buyer. Discussions to acquire some of Situational Awareness\u2019s holdings began on July 29, he wrote. The next day, CNBC\u2019s David Faber reported that Situational Awareness was forced to sell its public stock positions after steep losses. Citadel later emerged as the buyer. Griffin credited \u201cthe trading and prime brokerage teams at the banks serving both firms\u201d for a rapid transfer. Neither CNBC nor 24\/7 Wall St. printed a fund-level purchase price in the letter itself.<\/p>\n
Griffin also confirmed that Citadel\u2019s flagship multistrategy Wellington fund returned 5.94% in July, which CNBC said was the fund\u2019s best monthly performance since 2022. 24\/7 Wall St. carried the same 5.94% July figure from the letter. That is a named-fund monthly return. It is not a statement that the Situational Awareness book produced the month, and it is not year-to-date performance.<\/p>\n
The object to mark is an unwind of acquired risk, not a flagship close and not a 13F. Allocators should keep \u201cmore than 80%\u201d as Griffin\u2019s language for aggregate risk reduced, keep \u201cmore than $4 billion\u201d as block-trade market value, and keep Wellington\u2019s 5.94% as a July P&L print. Do not recast the block tape as a cash-out of Situational Awareness\u2019s LPs, and do not treat the letter as a priced acquisition of the fund.<\/p>\n
The second-order read is who can warehouse a forced seller and then de-risk in the open market. Citadel absorbed a public book under a margin-call clock, then sold it in blocks. That is a balance-sheet and trading-infrastructure story. Anyone still marking last month\u2019s AI liquidation as an open Citadel long is a week behind the letter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HedgeCo.Net \u2014 Ken Griffin told clients in a Friday letter that Citadel has unwound more than 80% of the aggregate risk from the public-equity book it bought from Leopold Aschenbren\u2026 Continue reading