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From Kirsten Bischoff, Opalesque New York:

Opalesque had a chance to catch up with the managers of New York-based Spruce Point Capital Management, launching for the first time to outside investors after a seven-month run which captured gains of +88%. "We want to bring to market a management company that encompasses the ideals of transparency to our limited partners, and a strict adherence to our mandate," Managing Partner David Katona said.

Katona (formerly at AXA Financial), along with his partner Ben Axler (previously at Barclays Capital and Credit Suisse) launched their long/short value strategy in November 2008.

The resulting portfolio of 20 long positions was achieved by evaluating an initial group of 3000 equities. By targeting North American equities trading at, below, or slightly above the cash value of their balance sheets, the team then began to hunt for the "once-in-a-generation" opportunities made possible by the dislocations caused by the 2008 sell off.

"We took a very clean approach and the value for us is in terms of a company's cash on hand," says Katona. "We feel this is going to be a prolonged economic cycle, and the ability for a good company to grow is going to depend on the cash they have available to grow internally or expand through acquisitions." The team has been agnostic in looking across industries, although they do not......................

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