Naphtal’s $4.4 Billion Currency Hedge Fund Gained 10% on Brexit

(Bloomberg) -- P/E Investments's $4.4 billion currency hedge fund, co-founded by Warren Naphtal, gained about 10 percent on Britain's decision to leave the European Union, mostly from betting against the euro, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The quantitative fund was up 6.4 percent last Friday after the June 23 vote, and 3.7 percent Monday, said the person, who asked not to be named because the information is private. The gains curbed losses this year to about 5.9 percent through June 27, according to a factsheet obtained by Bloomberg News.

Christin Luttrell, a spokeswoman for the fund, declined to comment on returns.

P/E Investments is among a number of computer-driven hedge fund firms that made money from the Brexit vote. Lynx Asset Management posted a 5.1 percent gain last Friday in one of its funds, and Capital Fund Management, a $7 billion firm in Paris, returned 4.2 percent that day in its Discus fund. Trillions of dollars were erased from global equity values and the pound and euro fell following the U.K. referendum.

Naphtal, a former head derivatives trader at Putnam Investments, started the firm in 1995 with his wife, Mary Stephens, who is chief operating officer, and Richard Zecher.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sabrina Willmer in Boston at swillmer2@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel at cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net, Vincent Bielski, Josh Friedman