Atticus Spinoff Attara To Close Doors

Feb 28 2012 | 11:31am ET

Atticus Capital spinoff Attara Capital is reportedly closing its doors due to difficulty raising assets and an inability to gain traction in the current economic climate.

A source familiar with the hedge fund shop told FINalternatives that Attara, founded by David Mark Slager and Nathaniel Rothschild, would wind down operations in April.

Attara rose from the ashes of Timothy Barakett’s Atticus Capital in 2009. Atticus, begun in 1996 with $6 million, peaked at $20 billion AUM in late 2007. In 2009, Barakett announced he would return outside capital to investors and wind down the Atticus Global and Atticus Trading funds. According to the Wall Street Journal, Barakett returned about $3 billion to investors.

Slager, a partner at Atticus and sole portfolio manager of the $1.2 billion Atticus European Fund, co-founded Attara Capital with former Atticus co-owner, Nathaniel Rothschild to manage the Atticus European Fund which they renamed the Attara Fund.

The news follows the closure earlier this month of Atwater Capital, founded two years ago by Atticus Capital vets Lee Pollock and Kris Green.

Attara did not return calls for comment