Brevan Howard Hedge Fund Fell in March to Erase 2017 Gains

(Bloomberg) -- Brevan Howard Asset Management's flagship hedge fund lost 2.85 percent in March, erasing all of its gains from the start of the year, according to an investor letter seen by Bloomberg News.

The decline means the Brevan Howard Master Fund, which managed $10.8 billion as of February, ended the first quarter down about 2.4 percent. By comparison, the HFRX Macro/CTA Index has lost almost 1 percent in 2017. A spokesman for the investment firm run by billionaire Alan Howard declined to comment.

Macro hedge funds faced an investor backlash last year as clients pulled almost $10 billion following years of middling performance caused by central banks' easy money policies and record-low interest rates. Some are now starting to recover on the prospect of further policy normalization from the Federal Reserve, with Glen Point Capital -- which manages money for clients including billionaire George Soros -- said to have gained 6.5 percent in the first quarter.

Brevan's fund handed investors a return of 3 percent in 2016, its first annual gain in three years, even as it suffered about $7 billion in outflows.

Alan Howard plans to allocate as much as $500 million to a new fund his firm started last month, Reuters reported, citing a person familiar with the matter. The Brevan Howard AH Master Fund, overseen solely by the billionaire, will manage a combination of new, outside capital as well as money from Brevan Howard's flagship fund, people with knowledge of the matter said in February. A Brevan Howard spokesman declined to comment on the Reuters report.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nishant Kumar in London at nkumar173@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Neil Callanan at ncallanan@bloomberg.net, Ross Larsen, Andrew Blackman