Griffin's Citadel plans to redeem $500 million from Melvin Capital - WSJ

[August 23, 2021]  (Reuters) - Kenneth Griffin's Citadel LLC and Citadel partners are planning to redeem about $500 million of the $2 billion they invested in Melvin Capital, the Wall Street Journal reported https://www.wsj.com/articles/citadel-to-redeem-about-500-million-from-melvin-capital-11629550410?mod=latest_headlines on Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Kenneth Griffin, CEO of Citadel, is seen in a framegrab from live video as he testifies about stock trading and GameStop, during an entirely virtual hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services entitled “Game Stopped? Who Wins and Loses When Short Sellers, Social Media, and Retail Investors Collide?”, in Washington, U.S., February 18, 2021. House Committee on Financial Services/Handout via Reuters

Together with Steven A. Cohen's Point72 Asset Management, Griffin's Citadel had invested $2.75 billion in January into Melvin Capital, the hedge fund which was at the center of the GameStop trading frenzy earlier this year.

According to the WSJ, it could not determine whether Citadel plans to redeem more money later. Citadel is expected to remain a large investor, the report added, citing a person familiar with the matter.

Melvin Capital, the fund founded by Gabe Plotkin, lost 49% on its investments during the first three months of 2021, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters in April.

Melvin had established itself as a strong performer posting annualized returns of 30% between 2014 and 2020.

But Plotkin had bet the retailer GameStop's stock price would tumble and then faced off with retail traders who used online trading apps and exchanged information on Reddit's WallStreetBets forum to push the stock price significantly higher in the early weeks of January.

(Reporting by Aakriti Bhalla in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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