Ken Griffin's Citadel fund gained 5.9% in July after acquiring a $16 billion portfolio from Leopold Aschenbrenner's Situational Awareness fund.
Ken Griffin's Citadel Wellington fund posted a 5.9% gain in July after acquiring a massive chunk of the public equity portfolio belonging to Leopold Aschenbrenner's Situational Awareness fund. The $16 billion portfolio was purchased at an estimated 10% discount during an overnight fire sale caused by a broad sell-off in AI infrastructure stocks. This move pushed the Wellington fund's year-to-date returns to 12%. Situational Awareness had reached a peak of $45 billion in assets under management earlier in 2026 before a 67% drawdown hammered its leveraged positions. While the fund retained its private investments, it was forced to divest its public equities, including positions in SK Hynix and Bloom Energy. Citadel's acquisition of these stocks provided immediate paper value of roughly $1.6 billion. Market participants view the move as a stabilizing event for the AI sector, as Citadel absorbed a major source of downward pressure on AI stocks.