Element Is Raising $3 Billion as Hedge Fund Returns 21%

(Bloomberg) -- As Jeffrey Talpins crushes it this year, investors can’t get enough, pouring $3 billion into his hedge fund in the past month.

Element Capital Management gained 20.5 percent this year through July, according to a person familiar with the matter. The now $17.5 billion firm opened its doors to capital from July 1 to Aug. 1, raising the money primarily from existing clients, the person said. Last year, Element attracted $2 billion after it briefly allowed new investments.

The hedge fund has posted returns of more than 19 percent in three of the last four years as other macro traders, including Andrew Law, Ray Dalio, Paul Tudor Jones and Louis Bacon, have struggled to make money. Talpins has profited this year on bets that President Donald Trump’s tax bill would pass, sending stocks and yields on U.S. Treasuries higher.

In a February letter to clients, he said he expected the U.S. equity market to fully recover from its dip that month and hit new highs. The S&P 500 Index is now less than 2 percent below its January peak.

Talpins founded New York-based Element in 2005 and has posted annualized gains of 21 since inception. A representative for Element declined to comment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Katherine Burton in New York at kburton@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Vincent Bielski, Josh Friedman

©2018 Bloomberg L.P.