Difficult decision, says Hendry closing Hedge Fund after 15 years

7 years ago - Published in Finance, Fundamental Analysis

Global macro fund manager Hugh Hendry has taken the “difficult decision” to close his flagship hedge fund after 15 years, in a move which will see Eclectica Asset Management close as well, Citywire Selector has learned.

In a shareholder letter seen by Citywire Selector, the London-based investor, who is founder and chief investment officer of Eclectica Asset Management, said the Eclectica fund would be closed and, ultimately, the firm would shut down as well.

“Unfortunately, we have made the difficult decision to close the Fund,” Hendry said in the letter. “We would very much like to thank you for your support during the last 15 years.” 

Eclectica Asset Management was founded in 2005 by Hendry and other former Odey Asset Management colleagues. Importantly for the fledgling company, the team took their flagship strategy with them – the Eclectica fund – which was launched at Odey in 2002.

CIO Hendry and his team posted impressive returns during the 2008 financial crisis, with the fund up 31% in that year alone (EUR, FE).

At its peak in 2013, Eclectica Asset Management had $1.3 billion (970 million pounds) in assets under management, before several years of outflows coinciding with flat to negative performance brought total assets down to under $200 million. The fund lost 9.4 percent in the first eight months of 2017, after a drop of 4 percent in 2016. Over the past two years, Hendry has made bets on German residential real estate and the break-up of the European Union.  A spokesperson for Eclectica AM confirmed the closure to Citywire Selector.

In February Citywire reported that the firm had seen assets fall by 87% in three years from $US1.4 billion in March 2013. As a result the firm cut staff numbers from 13 to six.

At the time chief executive Tim Arengo-Jones, told Citywire: “Obviously, when you have close to a billion dollars under management you can afford more staff so that was just part of the cost-cutting that we had to do with the fall in AUM over that period in summer 2014.”