The hedge fund investor John Paulson, who made a fortune in 2008 by accurately guessing how the sub-prime mortgage debacle would pan out, has had a terrible 2011 so far, losing 46 per cent through November in one of his biggest funds, Bloomberg reports.

His Advantage Plus Fund, which seeks to profit from corporate events such as takeovers and bankruptcies, fell by 3.6 per cent in November, and its gold share class dropped 2.7 per cent in November and is down by 29 per cent this year, the news service said.

The firm which carries his name, Paulson & Co, which is based in New York and manages $28 billion, has been hit by its investments in big US banks including Citigroup and Bank of America. It has also suffered losses in Sino-Forest Corp, a Chinese forestry company that has been accused of overstating its timberland holdings.

As a result, Paulson has trimmed the net exposure (long positions minus its short positions) in his main hedge funds to 30 per cent last month.

The $2 trillion-plus hedge fund industry has had a mixed year so far. Hedge funds rebounded in October as the Lyxor Hedge Fund Global Index rose 0.75 per cent, taking the year-to-date figure to 5.85 per cent. Figures on November will be issued later this month. Special Situations fell the most in the year to October, down by 14.16 per cent.