Brown's Second Curve slumps nearly 50 pct in 2007

NEW YORK, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Second Curve Capital LLC, the financial stocks investment firm run by Thomas Brown, has lost nearly 50 percent of its value this year as top holdings like First Marblehead (FMD.N) and CompuCredit (CCRT.O) have slumped, Brown said on Thursday.

But he said he is expecting a rebound in financial stocks in the next year or so as companies write off losses from the subprime lending debacle and investors pile back into the once-robust sector.

"I think we're really close, if not at the bottom, for the financial services industry," Brown told hundreds of investors at the Value Investing Congress in New York. "There are many opportunities in the most battered sectors."

Brown, who said he manages about $400 million in three funds, has seen his fortunes rise and fall in recent years. His Second Curve Opportunity Fund International, for instance, was up over 50 percent last year, according to investors.

Despite this year's losses, he said that his investors appear to be mostly sticking by him. He declined to give exact performance figures in an interview after his speech.

Brown told Reuters that only 7 percent of his investors chose to put in redemption requests for year-end 2007. He said his investor base does not include hedge fund-of-funds, which are more likely to bail out of loss-making hedge funds.

Brown, who maintains a Web site called Bankstocks.com, said his top stock picks include First Marblehead Corp, which securitizes student loans for banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co and Bank of America, and CompuCredit, which provides credit and related financial services. (Reporting by Dane Hamilton; Editing by Gary Hill)