Hintze’s Hedge Fund Said to Surge 30% in Best Year Since 2012

(Bloomberg) -- CQS Investment Management’s main hedge fund gained 30.4 percent in 2016, its best annual return since 2012, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.

The $2.8 billion CQS Directional Opportunities Fund, managed by billionaire Michael Hintze, was boosted when its credit bets turned profitable in March, one of the people said, asking not to be identified as the information was private. The London-based fund’s currency bets gained in November due to volatility sparked by Donald Trump’s surprise U.S. presidential election victory.

Hintze, 63, rebounded from a decline of almost 8 percent in 2015 amid a wider recovery by hedge funds. The industry rose about 4.5 percent in 2016, according to preliminary data compiled by Eurekahedge. The CQS fund had its best ever monthly performance in March with a 16.3 percent gain, as it made money from structured and corporate credit bets as the energy and resources industries soared. Energy credit gained 38 percent last year, according to Bloomberg Barclays data.

The fund gained 6.1 percent in November as its long U.S. dollar bets against the Japanese yen benefited from the outcome of the U.S. election, the investment firm said in its investor letter for the month. CQS, started by Hintze in 1999, manages about $12 billion.

--With assistance from Tom Beardsworth To contact the reporter on this story: Nishant Kumar in London at nkumar173@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Neil Callanan at ncallanan@bloomberg.net.