Crispin Odey adds to his fortune by betting against British bonds

Hedge fund tycoon Crispin Odey adds to his fortune by betting against UK gilts as inflation continues to surge

  • The Brexit-backing fund manager made millions betting against the pound after the 2016 referendum 
  • He now says he ‘made a lot of money’ in the first three months of the year on his bet against bonds, ‘lost a lot’ in the third quarter, and is now making more gains 
  • His flagship hedge fund, Odey European, is set to end the year up 50 per cent 


Hedge fund tycoon Crispin Odey

Hedge fund tycoon Crispin Odey has added to his fortune by betting against British Government bonds as inflation continues to surge. 

The Brexit-backing fund manager, who made millions betting against the pound after the 2016 referendum, told The Mail on Sunday that gilts are ‘still too expensive’ as interest rates are expected to keep rising next year to keep inflation in check. 

He pointed out that when interest rates go up, the price of Government bonds goes down. Odey said: ‘I’ve been on the side that said inflation was going to become an even greater problem in the next couple of years. 

‘The authorities daren’t put up interest rates meaningfully because we know recession will come. But at the same time that means they’re not doing anything to stop inflation.’ 

He said he ‘made a lot of money’ in the first three months of the year on his bet against bonds, ‘lost a lot’ in the third quarter, and is now making further gains. 

His flagship hedge fund, Odey European, is expected to end the year up 50 per cent – following four annual losses. One of the firm’s top managers, James Hanbury, took home £15.6million in pay. 

Odey said: ‘It’s been a phenomenal year for corporate finance activity and new issues.’ He added that his main fund had profited from the flotations of genomics company Oxford Nanopore and software firm Big Technologies.