SCION INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT LLC ASSETS AND HISTORY

Scion Asset Management is a financial services company headquartered in Cupertino, California and operates as a fee-only firm. The firm has more than $263 million in assets under management (AUM) on a discretionary basis, with only six clients total. The firm's operation is quite different as it does not manage money for individual clients..

Brief Overview of Scion Asset Management and its clientele 

In 2013, Scion Asset Management began its operations under the leadership of its founder and CEO Dr. Michael J. Burry. The firm’s management also includes Chief Operating Officer (COO) and Chief Compliance Officer (CCO), Zaeed Kalsheker, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), George Serra and Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Jonathan Hallam. 

Several private investment funds act as members of Scion Asset Management’s client base. The asset management company's operation is restricted to providing only discretionary investment advice to its six clients in total. One of the company's major client/ separately managed account is an insurance company, while the other five clients are private investment funds. These private funds are based in either Cayman Islands or Delaware and include Scion Master G7, L.P. ; Scion G7, L.P. ; Scion G7 Offshore, Ltd. ; Scion Value G7, L.P. and Scion Asia, L.P. 

Scion Asset Management has also disclosed that investors in the private investment fund may also include high-net-worth individuals, foundations, trusts, charitable organizations, family offices, a fund of hedge funds, corporations and businesses, pension plans and endowments.

Founder of Scion Asset Management LLC

Scion Asset Management LLC was founded in 2013 by American Physician, investor and hedge fund manager, Dr. Michael J. Burry. Burry was born on the 19th of June, 1971 and also founded the Scion capital hedge fund which operated from 2000-2008, before closing the firm to focus on his personal investments. Michael Burry's net worth is about $300 million. After medical school, Burry worked as a neurologist and pathologist at Stanford before quitting to start his hedge fund. He was reported to be successful in value investments and also successful with his stock picks, which attracted the interest of Vanguard, White Mountains Insurance Group and other prominent investors. 

In 2005, Burry shifted focus to the subprime market by analyzing mortgage lending practices in 2003 and 2004, and correctly forecasted that the real estate bubble was going to collapse as early as 2007. All of these led to Burry shorting the market by persuading Goldman Sachs and other investment firms to sell him credit default swaps against the subprime deal which he believed was vulnerable. The prediction was accurate, making Burry profit accordingly. Under his watch, Scion Asset Management has grown over time. In February 2019, the firms filing showed Burry to hold numerous large-cap stocks and $103,528,000 13F assets under the firm's management.

Minimum Account Sizes for Scion Asset Management LLC

Scion Asset Management does not require a minimum investment amount for a separately managed account, however requires one for its private investment funds. For the Scion G7 and Scion G7 Offshore funds, the firm generally requires a $1 million minimum investment amount. Scion Asset Management also mandates a $1 million minimum for the Scion Asia fund. For the Scion Value G7 fund, however, the firm requires a minimum account size of $500,000. Scion also retains the discretion to make an exception to the minimum investment requirement. 

Scion Asset Management Services

Scion Asset Management's investment approach simultaneously diversify their clients’ portfolios and increase clients’ success rate. When it comes to investment products, clients generally have a wide selection of instruments to choose from. The firm’s products and services come under two broad segments- Institutional Advisory Services and Investment Products. Each of these segments has some minor categories.

• Institutional Advisory Services 

Ø  Discretionary investment management

Ø  Fundamental Investment Analysis

Ø  Market Judgment

Ø  Risk Management

Ø  Technical Investment Analysis

Ø  Asset Allocation and valuation

• Investment Products 

Ø  Equities 

Ø  (ETFs)

Ø  Government securities 

Ø  Corporate debt securities 

Ø  Convertible securities 

Ø  Options and warrants

Ø  Equity swaps and credit default swaps

Ø  Derivative instruments

Investing in Scion Asset Management

Scion has said it values fundamental research when working to meet clients’ investment objectives using an approach that seeks out undervalued securities when conducting investment research. The firm analyzes the stock market from a range of approaches, which may include technical and macroeconomic factors. Scion Asset Management also provide clients with a diverse mix of portfolio opportunities it believes will increase their chances of investment success. 

Using leverage, fundamental analysis and derivative and risk observation strategies is also used by Scion to increase the successes of its clients.

Scion Asset Management doesn’t list a fee schedule, however charges clients both a management fee and incentive allocation/performance-based fee for investment services. The management fee requires clients to pay up to 2% annually. For separately managed accounts, the firm requires management fees to be calculated and paid in arrears on a quarterly basis. For private investment funds, the firm usually deducts asset-based fees from the investor’s capital account in advance and on a monthly basis. Scion Asset Management may also adjust the fee for clients or investors through separate agreement, without notifying the other clients or investors in a fund. In addition, the firm may also reduce or waive management fees at its discretion. In the case of incentive allocation fees, Scion Asset Management will earn up to a 20% share in the appreciation amount of each client’s account. The firm says it bases its incentive allocation fees on each year’s performance. It charges the fees at each December 31.

Performance of Scion Asset Management  over the last 10 years

The decade performance for Scion Asset Management ended in 2019. In 2016, Scion Asset Management had an AUM of more than $100 before filing 13Fs with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In February 2019, the fourth quarter earnings for the 2018 fiscal year was put at $103, 528,000 13F assets under its management. The table below contains a list of Scion Asset Management's 13Fs holdings as of Dec. 31. 2018.