Crispin Odey

Crispin Odey
Born (1959-01-31) 31 January 1959
Yorkshire, England
Residence London, England
Nationality British
Alma mater Christ Church, Oxford
Occupation Investor, Fund manager
Net worth GBP £1.1 billion (jointly with wife, April 2015)[1]
Spouse(s) Nichola Pease
Website https://www.odey.com/

Crispin Odey (born 12 October 1959)[2] is a London-based hedge fund manager and the founding partner of Odey Asset Management. In April 2011 the firm had $6.5 to $7 billion under management, with Odey personally running $4 billion of assets.[3]

Education and early career

Odey was born in east Yorkshire. He was educated at Harrow School, where his father had been head boy, and graduated from Christ Church, Oxford in 1980 with a degree in history and economics. After university he qualified as a barrister but instead joined Framlington fund managers, leaving to work for Barings International where he managed the Baring European Growth Trust. He ran continental European pension funds at Barings and at Framlington.[2][3][4]

Odey Asset Management

Odey founded Odey Asset Management in 1991.[4] George Soros was one of the original investors, seeding Odey $150 million.[3] He suffered large losses in 1994 when the Federal Reserve unexpectedly lifted interest rates (one of his funds lost 44 per cent of its value), but went on to thrive, for instance by foreseeing that the value of insurers would rise after the September 11 attacks on New York in 2001.[3][5]

Through the early part of the 2000s Odey worked closely with Hugh Hendry, whom he had recruited and who ran Odey's top performing Continental Europe Fund. Hendry left in 2005 to establish Eclectica Asset Management. In reference to Hendry, Odey himself said: "Odey in the 1990s was a one-man band; Odey in the 2000s was a two-man band."[3]

Odey came to wide attention in 2008 when he paid himself £28 million after successfully anticipating the credit crunch.[5] That year his return was 54.8 per cent.[3] He had been bearish about the position of banks for a number of years, shorting Bradford & Bingley as early as 2005, questioning the German landesbanks and warning consistently about the dangers of debt and inflated house prices. He continued his short positions into early 2009 but in April took longer positions as he predicted the market rally of that year.[2] The Times newspaper selected Odey as a "Business Big Shot" in 2008.[6]

In May 2009 Odey attracted some controversy for saying in The Times that he would leave the country to avoid paying 50% income tax.[7]

He was at the centre of further controversy when it was suggested that he financially backed anti-EU campaigners in the Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty[8] while some hedge funds had taken out specific bets on the insolvency of the country in the event that the vote not be carried.[9] The Treaty passed by a margin of 67.1 per cent to 32.9 per cent.[10] Odey denied that he had funded the Libertas 'no' campaign in faxes issued to RTÉ and TV3.[11]

In May 2010, Odey Asset Management formed a new investment management firm with Geneva’s Bruellan Wealth Management called Odey Bruellan.

Odey Asset Management's Odey European Inc. fund was ranked No. 5 on Bloomberg's 2012 list of the 100 Top-Performing Large Hedge Funds.[12]

In 2016, it was reported that Odey saw his personal fortune plummet by £200 million after profits at Odey Asset Management suffered a significant decline. His salary was slashed as profits were down nearly 45% from the previous year.[13][14] Later that year, his hedge fun won about 15% of its value following the results of Brexit.[15]

Personal life

Odey was briefly married to Rupert Murdoch's eldest daughter, Prudence, although the pair quickly separated.[16] The marriage lasted 15 months.

He subsequently married Nichola Pease, deputy chairman of JO Hambro Capital Management and a member of one of the founding families of Barclays Bank.[2][5][17][18] Nichola is younger daughter of Sir Richard Pease, 3rd Bt, and a sister of Carolyn Varley (wife of John Varley) and Richard Pease, a funds manager.[19] He had no children by his first wife, and three children, two sons and one daughter, by his second wife. The sons were born 1994 and 1999, and the daughter 1997.[20]

Odey reportedly enjoys shooting and fishing. He lives in Chelsea, London, and has a house in English Bicknor, where a pork sausage has been named after him by a neighbour.[17]

References

  1. ↑ "Sunday Times Rich List". The Sunday Times (page 33). 26 April 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 O'Hannelly, Padraig. “Investment Greats: Crispin Odey”, Motley Fool, 2 October 2009. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Blackhurst, Chris. “The MT Interview: Crispin Odey of Odey Asset Management”, Management Today, 1 April 2011. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  4. 1 2 “Manager Factsheet: Crispin Odey”, Trustnet. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  5. 1 2 3 Teather, David. "Crispin Odey: Hedge fund manager pays himself £28m after thriving during credit crunch", The Guardian, 4 August 2008. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  6. ↑ Sadie Gray Last updated. "The Times | UK News, World News and Opinion". Business.timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  7. ↑ Sadie Gray Last updated. "The Times | UK News, World News and Opinion". Timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  8. ↑ Molloy, Thomas. "Odey one of the most successful financiers in UK", Irish Independent, 29 September 2009. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  9. ↑ "Tue, Sep 29, 2009 - Funding allegations dominate Lisbon debate". The Irish Times. 9 September 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  10. ↑ "Taoiseach welcomes 'decisive step' - RTÉ News". Rte.ie. 3 October 2009. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
  11. ↑ "Odey denies funding Ganley no campaign", politics.ie, 30 September 2009. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  12. ↑ Bloomberg 100 Top-Performing Large Hedge Funds 2012
  13. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/apr/22/hedge-fund-manager-crispin-odey-billionaire-to-millionaire-profits-plunge
  14. ↑ http://www.standard.co.uk/business/crispin-odey-warns-of-banking-crisis-as-profits-nosedive-a3231351.html
  15. ↑ Wainewright, Will. "Crispin Odey’s Main Hedge Fund Said to Gain 15% on Brexit Vote", Bloomberg, 24 June 2016. Accessed 24 August 2016.
  16. ↑ Wolff, Michael. “The Secrets of His Succession”, Vanity Fair, December 2008. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  17. 1 2 “The Tatler List: Crispin Odey”, The Tatler. Retrieved 13 June 2012.
  18. ↑ Brummer, Alex. “City Interview: Odey warns we could be a Zimbabwe”, The Daily Mail, 24 June 2009. Retrieved 26 June 2012.
  19. ↑ Darryl Landy. Sir Richard Thorn Pease, 3rd Bt. Retrieved 9 January 2013
  20. ↑ Darryl Landy. Nichola Pease. Retrieved 9 January 2013
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