Brevan Howard Opens Its $200 Million Energy, Commodities Fund to Investors

Date: Thursday, May 20, 2010
Author: Bloomberg

Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP, Europe’s largest hedge fund manager, started accepting external investors for a fund investing in energy and commodities.

Brevan Howard Commodities Strategies Master Fund Ltd. got $200 million from its parent company when it started March 1, according to a fund document obtained by Bloomberg. The fund is managed by Stephane Nicolas, the head of the company’s commodities desk. An outside spokesman for Brevan Howard declined to comment.

Commodity assets under management in index-tracking and exchange-traded funds and customized products reached a record $294 billion last month, according to Barclays Capital. The S&P GSCI Total Return Index of 24 raw materials has risen in seven of the last 10 years.

The fund invests mostly in options and futures contracts. The minimum investment is $1 million, with an annual management fee of 2 percent and 20 percent performance fee.

Nicolas, 41, joined Brevan Howard in 2004 and became a partner in 2007. He ran the energy options desk for Bank of America Corp. from 2001 to 2004 and also worked for Societe Generale in Chicago and DRW Trading in London.

Hedge funds are mostly private pools of capital whose managers participate substantially in the profit from speculation on whether the price of assets will rise or fall.