Third Avenue Blocks Redemptions From Credit Fund Amid Losses

As signs of stress mount in credit markets, a $788 million mutual fund is blocking clients from pulling their money so its holdings can be liquidated in an orderly fashion. Martin Whitman’s Third Avenue Management put some of the assets in the Third Avenue Focused Credit Fund in a liquidating trust that will seek to sell them over time, the New York-based firm said on its website dated Dec. 9… ““We believe that, with time, FCF would have been able to realize investment returns in the normal course,” David Barse, the firm’s chief executive officer said in the statement. “Investor requests for redemption, however, in addition to the general reduction of liquidity in the fixed income markets, have made it impracticable” for the fund “to create sufficient cash to pay anticipated redemptions without resorting to sales at prices that would unfairly disadvantage the remaining shareholders,” he wrote. (source: Bloomberg) (VIEW LINK)