Oilman and investment manager T. Boone Pickens is calling it quits with the energy-focused fund he has managed for the past two decades—BP Capital—citing deteriorating health, according to a letter by the legendary oil investor reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
“It’s no secret the past year has not been good to me, from a health perspective or a financial one,” Pickens, 89, wrote in the letter. “If you are lucky enough to make it to 89 years of age like I have, those things tend to put life in perspective,” he added.
A decade ago, BP Capital managed more than US$2 billion in assets. A spokesman for Pickens declined to comment for the Journal on the hedge fund’s current assets under management, or on returns, but according to a person in the know, the assets—including some mutual funds and a private-equity fund that will not be closed—have totaled some US$1 billion in recent years.
Brian Bradshaw and David Meaney, two of Pickens’ top executives, have already left BP Capital and plan to start together an energy fund next week—Assert Capital Management, Meaney told the Journal.
“It has been one hell of a roller coaster ride,” Pickens wrote in the letter, obtained by CNBC. Related: UAE Oil Minister: OPEC Deal Could Extend Beyond 2018
“I’ve seen oil prices bounce around from $10 a barrel up to $147, down to $26 and now appear to be inching up ever so slowly,” the investor added.
“I’ve thrived and profited on the volatility in the energy space. But for me, personally, trading oil is not as intriguing to me as it once was,” Pickens says.
The shutting down of BP Capital is not the only energy-exposed fund to close in recent months.
In August 2017, Andy Hall, the trader nicknamed “Oil God”, was said to be winding down his main hedge fund after it posted big losses in the first half of last year.
Last month, the Journal reported that commodity hedge fund Madava Asset Management was closing down after Blackstone Group had requested to pull funds.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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