Despite hard times, or maybe because of hard times, Fortress Investment Group has just awarded $300 million in shares to retain one of its traders.
Adam Levinson, the 38-year-old chief investment officer of the Drawbridge Global Macro Fund at Fortress, also becomes a controlling shareholder of the publicly traded fund.
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that Levinson’s “windfall” was mentioned in a May filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Levinson doesn’t get the shares right way. Rather they vest over time as long as he stays with Fortress, according to the Journal.
In February 2007, Fortress became the first hedge fund and private equity company in the United States to go public.
Its shares closed on the first day at $31. Over time, the stock price has suffered, and the shares are now trading at $10.
The company was managing $35.1 billion in assets as of June 30.
Like many financial firms, Fortress has been hurt by the drop in value of mortgage-based securities.
The firm’s involvement in these securities became a campaign issue for John Edwards when he was running for the Democratic nomination for president.
Edwards had invested $16 million in Fortress. In addition, he worked for them as an adviser for about a year before announcing his candidacy in December 2006, earning a little more than $475,000.
The Journal reported in August 2007 that Fortress had a major stake in a company that was foreclosing on Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans at the same time Edwards was calling for more aid for people in the struggling city.
Edwards said he hadn’t known about the expanding involvement of the firm in the subprime mortgage sector.
Levinson’s role at Fortress has been to manage the firm’s global macro hedge fund. The fund has done well, though it has been down this year.
Before coming to Fortress in 2002, Levinson, a Cornell University graduate, worked at Goldman Sachs and Tudor Investment Group.
The Journal describes Levinson, who grew up in suburban Detroit, as a “rabid and loyal Detroit Lions fan” who flies to the team’s home games.
It would also seem that Levinson never sleeps, as he arrives at his New York City office at 6 a.m. to check on trading in Asia and London. After a short break in the afternoon, he returns at 6 p.m. to check on Asia again.
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