CG Carlyle Group Inc

Investors are preparing to pull roughly half their money from Claren Road Asset Management LLC, the latest blow for Carlyle Group LP's hedge-fund firm.

Clients of Claren Road have requested nearly $2 billion of their money back from the New York firm, according to a person familiar with the matter. The money is scheduled to be paid back after Sept. 30, the person said. The firm managed about $4.1 billion at the end of July.

Claren Road's flagship hedge fund lost 10% during 2014, its first losing year. Losses this year have created further discontent among investors; the fund is down 5.6% for the year through Friday, after gaining 1.7% the first two weeks of August, said the person familiar with the matter.

The Wall Street Journal reported in July that Cliffwater LLC, an influential investment consultant, had advised its clients to pull their money from the firm. Cliffwater clients have about $800 million invested in Claren Road.

It was unclear Monday whether Cliffwater clients are part of the new redemption request. A person familiar with Claren Road had said in July that Cliffwater clients make up a "de minimis" amount of money that is available to be requested for redemption by Sept. 30.

The size of the requested redemptions was reported earlier by Bloomberg News.

Claren Road managed $8.5 billion as recently as September and was founded in 2005 by former Citigroup Inc. executives Brian Riano, John Eckerson, Sean Fahey and Albert Marino. Carlyle, a private-equity giant, bought a 55% stake in 2010 as it made a push into hedge funds.

Carlyle Co-Founder William Conway said in the firm's second-quarter earnings call in July that investor flows can change quickly. Claren Road a year ago turned away $1 billion in new money, he said at the time.

"You perform, people are happy, they give you money," he said in July. "They don't perform, the opposite happens."

Write to Juliet Chung at juliet.chung@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 17, 2015 18:45 ET (22:45 GMT)

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