They may not be as highly paid as their New York brethren but London hedge funds are sure as hell making bank right now.
According to The Guardian, several London-based fund managers positioned themselves really well for Black Monday, with Peter Davies’ Lansdowne Partners shorting the embattled supermarket WM Morrison while Crispin Odey’s eponymous firm revved up its bet against the emerging markets-dependent Aberdeen Asset Management.
Morrison’s fell as much as 4.57% Monday, just as Aberdeen tanked over 11% before closing 8.59% lower.
This adds another feather on the cap for Lansdowne, whose huge bets against Glencore, Sainsbury’s, and Aggreko helped the firm award over £190 million to its top staff earlier this month. For Odey however this is nothing short of an answered prayer; his high-profile, Soros-backed fund sank a staggering 19% earlier this year, earning itself a place in the Financial Times’ worst performing hedge fund list and leading some people to speculate on how time he has left.
It looks like he’ll be sticking around for a while though; considering that he stuck to his guns on Aberdeen – a position he’s held for some time now – he may have been massively short China as well, which was a great place to be in on Black Monday.
Photo: Images Money