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To: Mark Bartlett who wrote (27815)	2/6/1999 11:23:00 AM
From: Alex	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116825

Another Hedge Fund in Trouble Andrew Fisher's Convergence Asset Management Convergence Asset Management, the hedge fund run by former Salomon Brothers' star trader Andrew Fisher, is under pressure from investors seeking to get their money back after suffering big losses in recent months. One investor is seeking to place one of Convergence's so-called feeder funds into liquidation, a move that has led Mr Fisher to offer to make it easier for investors to get their money out. Convergence is a bond arbitrage fund, with a similar investment style to that of Long-Term Capital Management, the much larger hedge fund saved from liquidation by a $3.6bn bail-out by financial institutions last year. However, poor investment performance has seen Convergence's net asset value shrink from $440m when it was launched earlier this year to approximately $150m - a loss of 66 per cent. The fund's leverage is said to be about 10 times its capital. Mr Fisher established the fund after leaving Salomon Brothers, the investment bank now owned by CitiGroup, in February 1997. It is said he was paid a bonus of more than $25m in 1996 on the back of his success in trading mortgage-backed bonds. "I wanted to go out on the top of my game, with high-fives and handshakes," Mr Fisher said at the time of his retirement. Yesterday he declined to comment. Convergence said: "It is true that a small number of investors wish to exit the fund early and we are preparing a plan that will allow those that wish to exit an orderly method, while preserving the character of our strategy for those who remain." People close to the fund hope that changing the rules to enable investors to take out 25 per cent of their investment each quarter from June will see the liquidation proposal fail or be removed. Current rules require investors to wait about 18 months before they can take out any of their investment in the fund. One person close to the fund said Mr Fisher was hopeful of attracting additional capital through investment from an unnamed "strategic investor". The Convergence master fund, known as the Convergence Portfolio Company, consists of about six so-called feeder funds. In response to one investor's attempt to put one of the feeder funds, known as the Global Convergence Fund, into liquidation at a meeting in the Cayman Islands on March 3, Mr Fisher wrote to investors urging them to vote against the proposal. People close to Convergence argue that even if the liquidation proposal succeeds it would not endanger the Convergence master fund. The Financial Times, Feb. 6, 1999