Putting his money where his outspoken mouth was, British hedge fund manager Crispin Odey reaped the benefits of his lonely position when his compatriots voted to leave the European Union.
“I feel fantastic. It’s a fantastic decision by the electorate,” Odey said when he heard the news that the UK voted to exit the EU.
Odey was not shy about his support for the Leave campaign, and he backed up his opinion with many short positions. Those positions paid off quite well as the markets began falling in response to the news.
His most important shorts were intu Properties and Berkeley Group, which fell by 11 percent and 27 percent, respectively on the day of the vote, profiting Odey with a nice payoff of £220 million, and including a 30 percent fall in his fund, leading up to the vote.
He had a clear strategy in mind: He put about 65 percent of his funds assets into gold, which rose after the vote when investors took to safety in the storm. He put the rest of his fund into shorting sterling and Japanese bonds.
“This is a good day for me. I was brave. I had a lot of clients who were angry with me but they won’t be quite so angry this morning. Life is not about being un-brave at the right time. We in the City have certain skills,” Odey added.