A new hedge fund, David Tepper-backed CastleKnight Management, has crushed its first 6 months of trading

CastleKnight Management hasn’t wasted any time since it began trading last October.

In six months, the David Tepper-backed firm has surged 63.2%, a source familiar with the firm told Insider. In 2021, through the end of March, the manager is up 34% after returning 10.8% last month. The average hedge fund has returned more than 6% in the first quarter of 2021, according to Hedge Fund Research.

The Manhattan-based firm was started with $100 million by former Appaloosa partner Aaron Weitman. He was one of several Appaloosa executives who have started their own funds since Tepper announced in 2019 he would return outside capital to focus on his NFL team, the Carolina Panthers.

Filings from March show that CastleKnight is now managing over $150 million.

Weitman, who worked at Appaloosa for more than 15 years, is Tepper’s nephew and rose from intern at his uncle’s hedge fund to senior partner. His sector expertise at Appaloosa included housing, chemicals, and industrials.

It’s unclear what generated returns for the new manager, which was planning on investing in equities and credit. Previously, a source familiar with the firm told Insider that the investing style would be a blend of distressed investing, value investing, and merger arbitrage.

Value companies, which for years has trailed growth stocks, have had a comeback this year, while the pandemic has given distressed investors plenty of opportunities and allocators eager to give them capital to work with.

The firm declined to comment on its performance.