Paul Singer

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Paul Singer is the founder of hedge fund Elliott Associates.[1]

Formed in 1977, Elliott is one of the oldest hedge funds under continuous management. Singer started the firm as a convertible arbitrage trader, but following the 1987 market crash moved into activist investing, including distressed debt. Today, Elliott has more than $9.5 billion of capital under management and has generated a compound net return of approximately 14 percent per year over the last 30 years. [2]

A small portion of Elliott’s distressed securities trading has been in sovereign debt, most recently Argentina and Congo-Brazzaville. Elliott is well-known for its investment in the distressed debt of Peru. In 1995, Elliott bought $20 million face value of defaulted Peruvian bank debt. After extensive and costly litigation and numerous attempts by Elliott to settle, the Court awarded $58 million to Elliott, including past due interest. More recently, Elliott has exposed rampant corruption in Congo-Brazzaville in its efforts to enforce judgments totaling more than $100 million in defaulted bank debt. [3][4]

Singer is a graduate of the Harvard Law School and worked as a lawyer at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Real Estate before starting Elliott. On a personal level, Singer has been active in Republican Party politics and was a major contributor to George W. Bush's presidential campaigns.[5] More recently, Singer and Elliott employees were major contributors to Rudolph Giuliani's 2008 presidential run.[6]

In 2007, Singer provided $175,000 to initially finance the petition drive for a proposed California initiative to apportion the state's 55 electoral votes by congressional district instead of winner-take-all. At least 19 of the state's 53 congressional districts could be expected to vote for a GOP presidential candidate, enough to change the national results in a close election.[7]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Elliott Management Corporation Company Profile. Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved on 2007-07-18.
  2. ^ Elliot's Activist Chief has no time for cheats but denounces aggressive tactics, Financial Times, April 10, 2006, accessed September 29, 2007
  3. ^ The Debt Frenzy, Foreign Policy, July/August 2007
  4. ^ The Debt Frenzy, MyWire, July 1, 2007
  5. ^ Hedge Fund Chiefs, With Cash, Join Political Fray, New York Times, January 25, 2007
  6. ^ Romney Attracts More of Bush's Top Donors Than Rivals (Update2), Bloomberg.com, July 20, 2007
  7. ^ Andrew Malcom, "Giuliani fundraiser was mystery initiative backer", Los Angeles Times, November 28, 2007
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