UK’s Odey Asset Management to close down

ODEY Asset Management, one of Britain’s best known hedge funds, will shut, it said on Tuesday (Oct 31) in a statement on its website, less than six months after its founder faced fresh allegations of misconduct.

Crispin Odey, 64, was ousted in June from Odey Asset Management (OAM), which he founded in 1991, after the Financial Times and Tortoise Media reported that 13 women had alleged that he had sexually assaulted or harassed them. Odey has denied the allegations.

All funds including those of subsidiaries Brook Asset Management and Odey Wealth have been transferred to other asset managers but some staff will remain to wind down operations and make sure investors “are looked after,” the firm said on its website.

Where each fund manager would move, or if their fund was closed without finding an alternative home, was detailed on the hedge fund’s website.

James Hanbury and Jamie Grimston and their funds have moved to Lancaster Investment Management, as previously reported by Reuters. Oliver Kelton and the funds he oversaw at OAM have moved to SW Mitchell Capital.

Freddie Neave, who was managing the flagship fund, Odey European, has moved to Bainbridge Partners and the fund will be incorporated into a new one there, said the website.

Geoffrey Marson has moved to Canaccord Genuity and Adrian Courtenay to Green Ash Parnters.

No new fund manager for Sophia Whitbread, the only female portfolio manager listed, was named.

Nor was there one named for Peter Martin, who took over from Crispin Odey as interim chief executive, the website said.

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A representative for the firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment. REUTERS