Fortress Investment Group LLC (Fortress Investment Group) (
NYSE&_160;
FIG) is a New York, New York-based alternative asset management firm that manages
private equity funds,
hedge funds,
real estate funds, and
railroad-related investments, with announced plans to move into
casinos and
horse racing. The company went public on
February 9, 2007.
[1]Fortress Investment Group LLC was founded as a private equity firm in 1998 by Wesley R. Edens, a former partner at BlackRock Financial Management, Inc.; Robert Kauffman, a managing director of UBS; and Randal A. Nardone, also a managing director of UBS. Fortress quickly expanded into hedge funds, real estate-related investments and debt securities, run by Michael Novogratz and Pete Briger, both former partners at Goldman Sachs.
Fortress Investment Group's investments grew rapidly, with its private equity funds netting 39.7% between 1999 and 2006.[2]
As of September 30, 2006, the most recent date for which figures were available before Fortress Investment Group's IPO the firm held around $17.5 billion in private equity, around $9.4 billion in hedge funds and managed two publicly-traded investment companies
