Behind every billionaire there is a story!

Citadel may go public in 2008

For hedge fund magnate Kenneth C. Griffin, 2007 was the best year ever. His Citadel Investment Group emerged as one of Wall Street’s top opportunists, picking up the pieces of fallen peers on the cheap. With such deft moves, Citadel rang in 30%-plus gains last year, vs. 12% for the average fund.

How could Griffin top that in 2008? An initial public offering of Chicago-based Citadel might do the trick. That would not only cement his reputation as a power player on the Street but also pad his bank account. The 38-year-old Harvard grad, who welcomed his first child in early December, is already estimated to be worth more than $2 billion.

The media-shy Griffin, who founded Citadel with $1 million in 1990, has developed a reputation over the years as a tech-savvy, rapid-fire trader, using computer models to buy and sell stocks, bonds, and options. Today the $20 billion Citadel accounts for 3% of stock trading volume in the world. And with a broad range of strategies and businesses in its portfolio, it looks increasingly like a large-scale financial company rather than just a hedge fund.

It’s an evolution that has prompted IPO rumors. Speculation started in 2006, when Citadel sold $500 million worth of bonds, the first debt offering by a major hedge fund. CFO Gerald Beeson recently told BusinessWeek: “An IPO is something we’d consider. It would be a byproduct of our wanting to expand our firm to create an even more diverse and permanent institution.”

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http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_02/b4066030071614.htm?chan=search