London Hedge Fund Firm Everett Capital to Return Investors’ Cash

(Bloomberg) -- Hedge fund firm Everett Capital Advisors, founded by industry veteran Kelly Hampaul, is returning capital to investors, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Hampaul, a former money manager at New York-based Taconic Capital Advisors, started Everett in 2015. He began trading with about $140 million and grew assets to more than $600 million by 2018, according to investor documents seen by Bloomberg. That made it one of the more successful European startups in recent years.

It’s unclear what Hampaul plans to do with the firm after returning investors’ capital, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Everett made money by betting on corporate events such as mergers and acquisitions.

Hampaul didn’t respond to a phone call and emails seeking comment. A spokesman for London-based Everett declined to comment.

The hedge fund industry generally has struggled to regain investors’ confidence in recent years, as shown by torrential outflows -- $87.9 billion was pulled out of funds in the 10 months through October, more than twice as much as in all of last year, according to eVestment data. That has contributed to more funds closing than opening for the past four years, according to data from Eurekahedge.

To contact the reporters on this story: William Canny in Amsterdam at wcanny3@bloomberg.net;Nishant Kumar in London at nkumar173@bloomberg.net;Suzy Waite in London at swaite8@bloomberg.net

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

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