Loeb's Third Point Offshore hedge fund nearly flat for year: sources

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

BOSTON (Reuters) - Daniel Loeb's main portfolio at hedge fund Third Point is nearly flat for the year, putting the billionaire investor far ahead of some industry rivals who have suffered heavy losses this year.

In November, Loeb's Third Point Offshore fund dipped 0.2 percent, leaving it down 0.2 percent for the year, two people familiar with the private firm's numbers said on Tuesday. The firm's Third Point Partners fund, a smaller portfolio, dipped 2.2 percent last month and is now down 1.6 percent for the year.

While Third Point, which invests roughly $17.5 billion overall, is trailing the broad Standard & Poor's 500 index's 1.8 percent gain this year, the firm is handily beating the average hedge fund's 2.3 percent loss for the year, according to data from Hedge Fund Research.

Many hedge funds are losing money this year after being caught off guard by slowing growth in China and falling energy prices, while their concentrated bets on pharmaceutical companies have been hit as pricing practices in the drug industry have come under scrutiny.

Late in October, Loeb told investors that he was betting more on stocks falling than rising even as he was sticking by his biggest upside bets on companies including healthcare powerhouses Baxter International Inc, Amgen Inc and Botox-maker Allergan Plc, which agreed to sell itself to Pfizer Inc last month in a $160 billion deal.

Loeb sidestepped some disasters too, having exited a significant long position in solar company SunEdison Inc by the end of the third quarter and long before it tumbled 56 percent in November. Rival fund manager David Einhorn blamed his firm's 20.6 percent drop this year on SunEdison's poor performance.

During the third quarter Third Point boosted its stake in fast-food empire Yum Brands Inc and established a new position in chipmaker Avago Technologies Ltd which gained in November. Food company Kraft Heinz Co, a new position during the third quarter, lost money in November.

(Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Bill Rigby)

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