[ by Melanie Gretchen ]

SAC Capital Advisors will lose Citigroup private bank and its $187 million as an investor - a relatively small yet symbolic client loss that was reported last week.  It's no better behind the scenes at SAC Capital Advisors, where an exodus of sorts by employees is occurring. 

Yet, that hasn't stopped founder Steven Cohen from conducting his global travels.  This week he's attending a hedge fund conference in Florida, after spending last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. 

All told, SAC may see as much as $1 billion in investor money leave the firm.  Such a withdrawal should not severely impact SAC, which manages over $14 billion.  And, despite losing Titan Advisors and a unit of SocGén, SAC managed to hold onto Chapwood Investments and SkyBridge Capital. 

But losing an investor like Citigroup private banking hurts - "The Citigroup decision stung, say people close to SAC's business, because of the longstanding and lucrative relationship between the bank and the fund.  Another concern, said these people, is that the move could influence other large SAC investors currently weighing whether to keep their money at the fund," ahead of a 2/15/13 deadline for investors to ask for their money back. 

As far as its staff is concerned - i.e., the departure of portfolio managers  - SAC has employed some damage control techniques, such as increasing year-end bonuses by 3%,   As one SAC employee said, "This has always been a stressful place to work.  Now it's just more stressful."

[C-I Note: And this storm likely will get worse before it gets better.]

For further details, go to [Dealbook, 1/28/13] and [Dealbook, 1/27/13].