ODEY Asset Management is suspending its flagship hedge fund as investors pull money out of the firm in the wake of the assault allegations against founder Crispin Odey.
Odey, once a big wheel in the City and perhaps the best-known fund manager, is facing claims that he sexually assaulted 13 women over 25 years of misconduct.
The Financial Conduct Authority is investigating the claims, which Odey, a prominent donor to the Conservative Party, denies.
Today Bloomberg reported that the Odey European Inc hedge fund and also the OEI Mac have received hefty demands from investors looking to get their money out.
The firm, which is breaking itself up and will certainly be renamed if not disbanded, said in a note to clients: “Given the level of requested redemptions, investor concentration and liquidity profile of the fund, the fund board has determined that it would not be in the best interests of the fund and its shareholders as a whole to continue to permit issues and redemptions of shares.”
Odey European is Crispin Odey’s best-known vehicle. At times its performance has been stellar, at others returning far below the stock market.
Last year it made a return of more than 150% as Odey bet against UK government bonds which he thought would be eroded by inflation.
He successfully bet against the high street banks in the run up to the 2008 financial crash.
Odey himself has been paid many million over the years for running the money, including at least £5 million in 2022. Back in 2019, the Sunday Times Rich List said the personal wealth of him and then wife Nichola Pease was £775 million.
The pair split in 2021 after 30 years or marriage just after Odey was cleared of groping a junior banker. She said then that, “public humiliation is not something any girl should take”.
The judge told Odey that he left that court with “your good character intact”.
While no criminal proceedings have yet been brought following the fresh allegations, it is hard to see how his career can continue.
Top banks including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley have cut ties with his firm.
Odey Asset Management, which did not respond to a request for comment, has halted trading in several other funds, including LF Odey Portfolio and Brook Absolute Return.
Odey still has assets of more than $4 billion. It is in talks to move at least some of these funds to other groups, which it has not yet named.
Some in the City think Odey’s investment methods were outdated in any case.
Alan Miller of SCM Direct.com said: “Had his clients chosen a low-cost index tracker of world shares, they would have received double the returns over the last 10 years, paid a fraction of the fees, had a much less volatile ride and would now be able to sell their investment at ease.”
