Crispin Odey's Hedge Fund Plunges 10% as Stock Markets Rebound

(Bloomberg) -- Equity markets are staging a comeback, and that’s bad news for bearish hedge fund manager Crispin Odey.

His flagship Odey European Inc. fund fell just over 10 percent last month, according to an investor update seen by Bloomberg. While sharp losses and gains aren’t unusual for Odey’s investors, this was the fund’s biggest monthly decline in nearly three years.

A spokeswoman for the London-based money manager declined to comment.

Odey’s sweeping wagers against the market consensus over a trading career spanning nearly three decades have resulted in eye-popping gains and excruciating losses. Last year, his fund advanced 53 percent as his long-running predictions of doom finally panned out and global equity markets plunged into turmoil. But this year, global stocks are back in recovery mode, rising nearly 10 percent.

While it’s not clear what exactly caused Odey’s February losses, a number of long and short bets failed to pay off. Insurer Lancashire Holdings Ltd., his largest disclosed bearish bet, surged about 20 percent. Odey’s renewed wager against the pound also faltered. Tri-Star Resources Plc, his largest long stock bet at the end of January, slumped 16.5 percent.

“Easy-money policies mean that no one has a reason to sell any financial asset," Odey wrote to his investors last month in response to this year’s stocks rally.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nishant Kumar in London at nkumar173@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shelley Robinson at ssmith118@bloomberg.net, Patrick Henry, Chitra Somayaji

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