Brevan Howard's Main Hedge Fund Posts First Gain in Five Months

(Bloomberg) -- Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP's flagship hedge fund returned 1.5 percent in July, the macro strategy's first gain in five months, according to an investor letter seen by Bloomberg News.

The Master Fund, which managed $7.6 billion as of the end of June, was still down 3.8 percent in the first seven months of the year after suffering its worst first-half loss since it began trading in 2003, the letter showed. A spokesman for the investment firm run by billionaire Alan Howard declined to comment.

Brevan Howard's macro peers did better, with hedge funds following economic trends making 2.7 percent this year through July, according to Eurekahedge data. Investors are allocating more to these money pools than any other strategy on bets that interest-rate normalization will boost opportunities to profit and reverse recent losses.

Howard, 53, has seen the fortunes of his hedge-fund firm decline after years of poor performance. The Master Fund's assets have slumped from almost $28 billion in 2013, investor letters show.

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, Paul Armstrong, Christian Baumgaertel