Odey Asset Management is to close down, the company announced on Tuesday. A very brief statement on Odey AM’s website announced the closure, adding that the fund managers and funds have moved to new asset managers.
“Odey Asset Management LLP is in the process of winding down. All funds have been transferred to new asset managers. Staff remain to wind down the business and make sure investors are looked after,” the company said.
We’ve detailed these below, which show transfers to – among others – Lancaster Investment Management, SW Mitchell Capital, Bainbridge Partners, Cannacord Genuity. In August we revealed the impact of the Financial Times story on Odey’s alleged conduct on investor outflows – at that point, around £600 million had been pulled from Odey Asset Management strategies since the story broke on June 8, 2023. After that, some funds were gated, others closed, and some were kept open in a confusing rush of company updates.
A few weeks ago, it was revealed that Odey Wealth Management, set up in 2008, will close. Odey AM and Odey Wealth were part of the wider Odey Group.
Following the publication of the FT story, questions then began being asked of the regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority. In evidence to MPs in July, FCA chief executive Nikhil Rathi revealed that the regulator had begun an investigation into Odey Asset Management in 2021. But he also revealed that Crispin Odey had threatened legal action against the regulator in response. In March 2021, Crispin Odey was not found guilty of indecent assault.
The case raised wider questions about whether the “non-financial conduct” rules for UK investment managers are robust enough. Morningstar UK editor Ollie Smith looked at this issue in detail as well as the timeline of events leading up to the FT’s story, which caused shockwaves in the asset management industry.
Crispin Odey founded Odey AM in 1991 and became one of the best-known figures in the City, backing the Conservative party via donations and making contrarian bets on market movements via his hedge fund. Odey Asset Management became a familiar name in the list of companies “shorting” UK stocks, a way of profiting from falls in market value.
