Citadel buys most of Situational Awareness’ public equity book

Ken Griffin’s Citadel acquired most of the public equity portfolio of AI-focused hedge fund Situational Awareness after steep losses in July forced the firm to unwind much of its leveraged equities book, according to people familiar with the matter.

Citadel took over the portion of the portfolio that had been financed through prime brokerage leverage. Several Wall Street prime brokers, including Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup, helped facilitate the transaction.

Situational Awareness was founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner and held concentrated positions in AI-linked public companies such as Broadcom, Intel and CoreWeave. The fund’s stake in Anthropic was not part of the sale and remains a key holding.

The fund returned roughly 439% in the first half of 2026 before the July correction. Reports indicate the fund lost about two-thirds of its value during July. The firm considered raising additional capital before deciding to dispose of most of its listed equity holdings, according to people familiar with the matter. Aschenbrenner attributed part of the decline to aggressive short-selling, according to people familiar with the matter.

After the transaction, Situational Awareness is expected to retain a portfolio valued at about $10 billion that includes remaining public equities and private investments. Citadel manages roughly $71 billion in assets. Financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed.