Clarium LP Assets Closing in on $5 billion

The walking wounded on Wall Street might be looking for feelgood stories; Clarium LP is one of the few we can find.

For some reason February hedge fund performance numbers will slow to leak out; Barron's had a run down this past weekend. Peter Thiel's Clarium LP followed up its blistering January gain of approximately 24% by tacking on 270 basis points in February. Of course, March is likely to prove a tougher month for Global Macro funds. While the trend in the dollar has reasserted itself, other trades have proven to be more problematic.

Did Clarium get through March with flying color? We shall soon find out; and would not bet against it.

It is possible Thiel & Co. reached an important milestone in March, hitting the $5 billion mark in assets under management. The CASAM CISDAM database pegged Clarium's assets at $4.45 billion as of March 1st; if you back into the numbers it would appear the fund had attracted approximately $400 to $500 million in inflows through March 1st. Money continues to tumble in; Thiel's marketing guy has the easiest job on Wall Street right now, and assuming Clarium held its own in March they could be running $5 billion as we close out the quarter.

Thiel is on a pace that should soon witness him passing Dan Loeb’s Third Point, and does not take much imagination to see his fund managing $10 billion by the end of the year. His themes, which include shorting companies employing leverage, ie. banks and brokers, continue to work. Was Clarium short Bear Stearns? Quite possibly.

But Thiel’s golden touch does not extend to the Presidential race. We can sympathize with his support of Ron Paul, and would love to hear what Thiel thinks about the three front runners. Too, Peter likely has strong opinions over the government’s plan to increase the regulation on Wall Street.
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Peter Thiel, Co-founder and former CEO of PayPal; Portfolio Manager of Clarium Capital Management, LLC

“In our time, the government has become a reactionary force — preventing the growth and innovation America will need to be free and prosperous in the 21st century.  I support Ron Paul because he is the only significant candidate who is a part of the solution, rather than a part of the problem.”

Atta boy, Peter.

2007 Man of the Year: Peter Thiel
1440 Wall Street
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The content contained represent the opinions of 1440 Wall Street. This commentary in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author.

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