Brevan Howard Asset Management, the $37
billion investment firm run by Alan Howard, is planning to start
a hedge fund to focus on Argentina, as investor speculation
mounts that the country can overcome default.
The firm has raised $25 million for its Brevan Howard
Argentina Fund, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission. A spokesman for the firm declined to
comment on the fund.
Brevan Howard was part of a group of investors holding
restructured Argentinian bonds in 2012 when Paul Singer’s
Elliott Management persuaded a U.S. court to block payments to
the debt. Singer, who bought the original defaulted bonds and
sued for full repayment, said in November that he will pursue
sanctions on the South American nation for evading the court
order.
Speculation increased this year that Argentina will resolve
the dispute once a bond clause it says precludes a settlement
expires this month and a new president is elected. Argentina,
which defaulted in 2001 and this year, has failed to reach
agreement with Singer and other so-called holdout investors, and
instead is planning to sell bonds that will be governed by local
laws.
During the jockeying other investors have raised money
anticipating resolution. Redwood Capital Management started a
$160 million fund focused on Argentina in October, a month after
Gramercy Funds Management opened a $175 million fund. Owl Creek
Asset Management and Bienville Capital Management also recently
started pools that specialize in South America’s second-biggest
economy.
Brevan Howard was started by Howard in 2002 with four
members of a proprietary fixed-income trading desk at Credit
Suisse Group AG. The hedge fund firm is based in St. Helier on
the island of Jersey.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Saijel Kishan in New York at
skishan@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Christian Baumgaertel at
cbaumgaertel@bloomberg.net
Pierre Paulden, Bradley Keoun