Breeden Activist Fund Says Research Director Fenton Resigned

Breeden Capital Management LLC, the activist hedge fund founded by a former head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, said Joshua Fenton resigned as director of research and trading.

Breeden Capital, based in Greenwich, Connecticut, said in an update to its annual registration with the SEC that Michael Keating will serve as interim research director. At the end of February, Breeden Capital had $645.7 million in assets under management, according to its SEC registration.

Richard Breeden, who served as SEC chairman from 1989 to 1993 under former President George H.W. Bush, founded Breeden Capital in 2005 to make activist investments in small and medium-sized companies. California Public Employees’ Retirement System, the nation’s largest pension plan, holds an equity stake in Breeden Capital.

Breeden, 62, didn’t immediately return a telephone call seeking comment. Fenton has joined another firm and is currently traveling in China, his wife Kristine said in an interview when reached at their home in Cross River, New York. She declined to name Fenton’s new employer.

Prior to joining Breeden Capital, Fenton worked as director of global equity research during 2008 and 2009 at Clay Finlay LLC of New York. Before that, he was director of research at Gabelli Asset Management Inc. and helped manage the Gabelli Global Gold & Natural Resources Trust.

In September, Calpers wound down a European fund managed by Breeden after it lost $71.5 million. The pension fund’s $300 million investment in Breeden European Partners (California) LP was valued at $228.5 million in a document reviewing the performance of Calpers investments during the second quarter of last year.

To contact the reporter on this story: Miles Weiss in Washington at mweiss@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel at cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net