Omni Partners LLP is shutting a global macro hedge fund following the departure of Chief Investment Officer Stephen Rosen, who said hes stepping back from trading. The fund lost 7 percent in the first four months of this year, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Omni Macro Fund managed $237 million and ran for nine years with an annualized 11.3 percent return, according to company statements. The fund gained an estimated 8.4 percent last year, the firm said in January, but lost money since the start of 2016, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the data is private. Omni declined to comment on the funds return for 2016.
The decision has been made to close the Omni Macro Fund and return capital to investors, Peter Coates, chief executive officer of the London-based firm, said in an e-mailed statement on Thursday.
The move by the firm, started in 2004 by Steve Clark, a former co-head of global stock proprietary trading at Nomura Holdings Inc., follows poor performance by macro hedge funds that bet on economic trends and across asset classes. The funds averaged a 1.2 percent gain in the first four months of this year, according to Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research.
After thoughtful consideration, I have chosen to step back from trading and running the fund in order to pursue other goals and ambitions, Rosen said in a separate statement.
Tough Period
Hedge-fund investors pulled a net $15 billion last quarter, the most since the tail-end of the financial crisis, reducing the industrys assets under management to $2.86 trillion from $2.9 trillion, Chicago-based HedgeFund Research Inc. said in April.
Macro hedge funds suffered $7.3 billion in outflows between January and March. Some of the best known names in the industry such as Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP and Tudor Investment Corp. lost money.
Clients of Tudor Investment Corp. have asked to pull more than $1 billion from the hedge fund firm founded by billionaire Paul Tudor Jones after three years of lackluster returns. Tudors main BVI Global, a macro fund, fell 2.8 percent in the first quarter, according to an investor document. That follows gains of 1.4 percent in 2015 and 3.5 percent in 2014.
Brevan Howards flagship hedge fund fell 0.9 percent in April, deepening losses for this year to 1.8 percent, two people with knowledge of the matter said earlier this month.
