The London-based firm has filed a private placement notice with the US Securities and Exchange Commission to raise an unspecified amount of assets for its Macro FX fund. The fund, which was launched in 2009, is managed by Luke Ding, a former Merrill Lynch FX trader who joined Brevan Howard in 2007. Brevan Howard is seeking minimum investments of $1 million for the fund.
The decision to raise funds in the US comes after news last month that Brevan Howard, which was founded in 2002 by ex-Credit Suisse trader Alan Howard, is launching a US investment firm that was due to start trading this month.
Brevan Howard US Investment Management, based in New York, will trade capital allocated from the firm’s flagship global macro Master Fund.
The announcement to raise cash in the US also comes after a period in which some hedge funds have struggled to make returns. Many managers have been frustrated that the euro has not plunged more significantly against the dollar, even as the eurozone debt crisis has escalated.
Indeed, shallower and more volatile financial markets have prompted some hedge funds, such as Moore Capital, to return cash to investors in an attempt to become more nimble.
However, according to figures from Hedge Fund Research, Brevan Howard’s Macro FX fund has seen an average annual gain of 3.6%. Conversely, the Chicago-based firm says, during the same period, other macro currency hedge funds have suffered average annual losses of 0.9%.
Brevan Howard, when contacted by EuromoneyFXNews, declined to comment on the announcement.