Hedge fund Paulson & Co lays off senior staff: source

By Lawrence Delevingne

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Paulson & Co, the hedge fund firm led by billionaire investor John Paulson, has laid off at least four senior executives, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The departures on Thursday, according to the source who requested anonymity because the information is private, include top traders Keith Hannan and Brad Rosenberg, and partners Victor Flores, who focused on gold investments, and Allen Puwalski, a financial company expert.

“We are rightsizing the firm to focus on our core expertise in areas that are growing," a Paulson spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.

Hannan, Rosenberg, Flores and Puwalski did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Paulson manages about $9 billion today, down tens of billions of dollars from its peak around 2011, according to the source.

The firm employs about 95 people. Bloomberg reported in February that Paulson planned to downsize its Manhattan offices by moving to a smaller space in the offices of firm-owned Steinway Musical Instruments Inc.

A fund that uses Paulson's core strategy, Schroder GAIA Paulson Merger Arbitrage, is down 5.6 percent this year through March 6, according to a report by HSBC. The fund also fell in each of the last four calendar years.

Other Paulson funds focused on European stocks, credit and another merger-related strategy, Pure Spread, are up this year, building on gains in 2017, the person said.

News of the layoffs was previously reported by The New York Post and Business Insider.

(Reporting by Lawrence Delevingne; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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