Brevan Howard May Give Back $2 Billion To Avoid Getting Too Big

Alan Howard’s Brevan Howard Asset Management may return about $2 billion to investors in the firm’s largest fund – Master Fund – to avoid getting larger than its current size of $26.9 billion.

This past unstable August, Brevan Howard (see its holdings here) produced gains of 11% due in part to their strategy of focusing on liquid assets such as currencies and interest rates to profit from global trends.

Alan Howard

Brevan Howard joins the ranks of other multi-billion dollar hedge funds – including Caxton Associates LP, JAT Capital Management LP, and SAC Capital Management LLC – which have sought to reduce their size because they believe there are fewer opportunities to make money in the current market. Reducing the size of the fund in times like that helps ensure a more robust return rate.

Andrew Law’s $10 billion hedge fund, Caxton Associates, informed investors last week that it will limit the amount of money it takes in. Next month, JAT Capital, the $2.5 billion hedge fund, will stop taking on new investments. Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital, which is valued at $14 billion, closed its largest fund to new clients earlier this year.

Last quarter, Brevan Howard significantly increased their positions on Intel Corp by 226%, Ishares Trust by 157%, and Barrick Gold Corp by 289%. Brevan Howard also took a new position on Microsoft Corp adding 1.2 million shares to their portfolio.

Brevan Howard has not indicated which clients with get their money back.

See Caxton Associates’ Holdings Here

See JAT Capital Management’s Holdings Here