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Fund Times

Fernandez Leaves Fairholme

Embattled fund loses comanager.

Oct 19, 2011

Fairholme Capital Management said Charlie Fernandez, the comanager on its flagship Fairholme (FAIRX) fund, has left the firm. The asset manager made its announcement in regulatory filings today. Fernandez was also a listed comanager on Fairholme Focused Income (FOCIX) and Fairholme Allocation . That leaves Bruce Berkowitz, the firm's founder, as sole manager of all three funds.

The Fairholme fund's $8.9 billion in assets are less than half of what they were last year amid poor performance and billions in redemptions. The fund's years of stellar performance came to a halt this year amid massive bets on financials, like American International Group (AIG) and Bank of America (BAC), which have been punished by investors. The fund's 26% loss so far in 2011 gives it a year-to-date return that is worse than almost every fund in the large-value category.

It is not clear yet why Fernandez is no longer with the firm. He joined the Fairholme fund as comanager in 2008, and Berkowitz said at the time that he would use Fernandez's expertise in corporate restructurings to research the contrarian and deep-value bets for which Berkowitz has become known.

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