CQS hedge fund's Hintze sees opportunities amid dislocation

[BOSTON] When Michael Hintze surveys a world rattled by fears that easy money policies may soon end, the billionaire investor sees a chance to make money by moving from fixed-rate to floating-rate securities.

Mr Hintze's Directional Opportunities Fund, one of a handful of portfolios run within his US$12 billion hedge fund firm CQS, is up 12 per cent this year, according to investors, even as some of his biggest rivals stumbled when the US Federal Reserve hinted in the second quarter that it might start to withdraw its stimulus.

The 60-year-old manager, whose 36 per cent return in 2012 ranked him as one of the industry's best performers, began to rethink his investments early in 2013, opting for floating-rate securities, whose periodically reset interest payments are seen as protecting portfolios near the end of low-interest cycles.