(Bloomberg) -- Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC, the hedge fund that settled a federal bribery probe in September, said assets declined by about $3.6 billion in December, even as its biggest multi-strategy fund made money in the month.
The firm managed about $33.5 billion as of Jan. 1, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday, down from $45.5 billion at the end of 2015.
Founder Dan Och is seeking to repair the damage after settling the bribery case last year with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Justice Department. An Och-Ziff unit pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a plot to pay bribes to win investments in Africa.
The firm said in its September quarterly filing that it expected fourth quarter redemptions to be higher than usual because of the settlement and the general exodus of institutional investors from hedge funds. For the first nine months of 2016, investors pulled a net $6 billion from Och-Ziff. Joseph Snodgrass, a spokesman for Och-Ziff, declined to comment on what portion of December's asset decline came from client withdrawals.
Its OZ Master Fund rose 0.72 percent in December, bringing its return to 3.82 percent for 2016, the New York-based company said in the filing. The OZ Asia Master Fund fell 2.27 percent last month and declined 5.39 percent for the year. The OZ Europe Master Fund gained 1.61 percent in December and 3.70 percent in 2016.
In addition to these funds, the firm also manages real estate and credit portfolios. As of September 30, 42 percent of total assets were locked up for three years or more.
To contact the reporters on this story: Margaret Collins in New York at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Katherine Burton in New York at kburton@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Vincent Bielski, Alan Mirabella
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