Business Week — Lansdowne Partners Ltd. and Odey European Inc., two of the U.K.’s biggest hedge funds, started 2011 bullish on stocks. The shared view has led both firms to have one of their toughest years managing money.
Lansdowne’s U.K. Equity Fund, which oversees more than $8 billion, was down about 18.6 percent through Aug. 19 after averaging an annual gain of 15.5 percent since the fund started trading in 2001, investors said. Odey European, the hedge fund run by Crispin Odey, fell about 15 percent through Aug. 12, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Odey, whose Odey Asset Management LLP oversees $7 billion, posted an average increase of 17.9 percent from 1992 through 2010.