Crispin Odey

Crispin Odey (born 12 October 1959) is a London-based hedge fund manager and the founding partner of Odey Asset Management. In April 2011 the firm had $6.5 to $7 billion under management, with Odey personally running $4 billion of assets.

Education and early career

Odey was born in east Yorkshire. He was educated at Harrow School, where his father had been head boy, and graduated from Christ Church, Oxford in 1980 with a degree in history and economics. After university he qualified as a barrister but instead joined Framlington fund managers, leaving to work for Barings International where he managed the Baring European Growth Trust. He ran continental European pension funds at Barings and at Framlington.

Odey Asset Management

Odey founded Odey Asset Management in 1991.George Soros was one of the original investors, seeding Odey $150 million. He suffered large losses in 1994 when the Federal Reserve unexpectedly lifted interest rates (one of his funds lost 44 per cent of its value), but went on to thrive, for instance by foreseeing that the value of insurers would rise after the September 11 attacks on New York in 2001.