De Galleon Group was één van de grootste hedge funds ter wereld, met een beheerd vermogen van meer dan 7 miljard dollar. In oktober 2009 sloot het haar deuren, na een inval van de FBI op verdenking van handel met voorkennis.

Het bedrijf werd in 1997 opgericht door Raj Rajaratnam, bestuursvoorzitter van Needham & Company.

Uit een bedrijfsprofiel op Siliconiran:

Currently
The Galleon Group manages five different long/short equity funds: Technology, Healthcare, New Media (Internet), Communications and Life Sciences. The partners of Galleon have significant experience in the technology and health care sectors and, prior to joining Galleon, were senior professionals at Wall Street firms such as Goldman, Sachs & Company, Needham & Company and ING Barings.

Core business principles

Combine strong fundamental investment analysis with superior trading capability
Galleon places a strong emphasis on both fundamental investment analysis and trading. This enables us to identify companies with superior long-term growth prospects while maintaining the flexibility to profit from short-term market fluctuations.

Retain Senior People
Galleon has a structure in place where key people have significant equity ownership in the firm. Currently, there are eight key employees – three in technology analysis, two in healthcare analysis and three in trading. Our approach is to have multiple partners with significant equity interest with the goal of attracting and retaining the highest quality individuals.

Disciplined approach to portfolio construction
Galleon has established a consistent approach to portfolio construction that has been tested over seven years. We have strict limitations on the use of leverage and the size of individual positions and have developed strategies for effective risk management.

Client reporting
We attach particular importance to communication with our clients. On the first business day following the end of every month, we communicate our monthly returns with a commentary on the exposure and strategy of each fund. On a quarterly basis, we provide a more detailed update. In addition, all partners are accessible to investors.

Align interest with investors
In order to fully align our interests with those of our investors; employees are prohibited from trading stocks in their personal accounts.

The Galleon Group
135 East 57th Street, 16th Floor
New York, NY 10022

Investeringsbanken als Goldman Sachs en Morgan Stanley rekenden de Galleon Group tot hun beste klanten. Per jaar betaalde Galleon meer dan 300 miljoen dollar aan commissies.

Rajaratnam werd in 2011 veroordeeld tot een gevangenisstraf van 11 jaar, handelaar Zvi Goffer kreeg 10 jaar. De zaak leidde tot aanklachten tegen 25 verdachten. 21 daarvan hebben schuld bekend, waaronder voormalige bestuursleden van IBM, Intel en Bear Stearns.

bron: NY Times, Bloomberg