I believe that the article indicates he only had investments in registered accounts. It appears that he had no money available to invest and thus in order to take advantage of what he believed might be an opportunity, he had to borrow that money ($250k). 

He is not "only cashing out the loan part of his investments." He has sold the funds he bought in 2008 in their entirety. He will obviously pay off the loan with the proceeds of sale and have $250k+ apparently in gains "banked."