Sequoia Fund reopens to investors

Beleaguered fund fights to find footing after ill-fated Valeant Pharma bet.

Just when it seemed the Sequoia Fund (SEQUX) was down for the count, offering to meet investor redemptions with fund shares instead of cash, the beleaguered mutual fund has re-found its footing.
The fund, which tumbled 24% over the past 12 months due largely to an oversized bet on drug maker Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX) , is reopening to new investors that want to buy shares directly from the fund and existing investors.
The $5.3 billion fund, suffered more than $780 million in investor withdrawals over the past year, according to the Wall Street Journal, and has been closed to most new investors since December 2013.
The fund is down 10.1% this year through Thursday, which compares to a 2.26% gain for the S&P 500 Index over the same period.
Last year the fund lost 7.29%, while the benchmark gained 1.38%.
Long a highly regarded fund, Sequoia took a large stake in Valeant that eventually reached 30% of the portfolio. Valeant stock has last 84% over the past 12 months, and Robert Goldfarb, one of the fund’s long-time managers, resigned last month.