Odey Asset Management’s UK Absolute Return Fund is having a great year to say the least. The hedge fund is up 33.3 percent through the end of November2012. With a 1.4 percent return in November, the fund is up 5.5 percent in Q4 so far. The FTSE All Share Total Return index was up 1.8 percent last month. Odey Absolute Return has been the best performing among the all the hedge funds managed by Odey Asset Management.
In November, the fund gained the most in the long equity portfolio (+4.90 percent) while the highest detraction was observed in short equities (-2 percent) and short term fixed income futures. In long positions, the top gainers included, Sky Deutschland AG (ETR:SKYD) (FRA:SKYD), United Drug PLC (LON:UDG), Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) (PINK:ERIAF), Barclays PLC (LON:BARC) (NYSE:BCS), Hargreaves Services plc (LON:HSP), PolyOne Corporation (NYSE:POL), Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LON:LLOY) (NYSE:LYG), Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (LON:BC94) (KRX:005930) and Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B). In short positions, Odey continued to gain in a short Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) position, and also profited from its short in BG Group plc (LON:BG).
In the losing category were shorts in 10 yr bunds, 10 yr gilts, FTSE 100 index futures ITV plc (LON:ITV) and Michelin SCA (EPA:ML). The long potfolio underperformed in Sports Direct International Plc (LON:SPD), which was a top performing position in October. Other laggers include longs in Regus PLC (LON:RGU), Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT), and Rockhopper Exploration Plc (LON:RKH).
In terms of new positions, Odey revealed Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) as an addition to the long portfolio. The stock was purchased at $12 per share. Odey believes that Dick Schulze, founder and major shareholder at Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) can steer the company in the right direction. Odey also has a new short position in Kemira Oyj (HEL:KRA1V), equal to 0.6 percent of the company’s outstanding shares. Kemira is a Finnish chemicals company. The fund managers believe that the stock is over valued and does not have the assumed potential for growth. Going forward they expect the company to miss consensus forecasts.
By portfolio weight, the hedge fund has the highest exposure in Sky Deutschland AG (ETR:SKYD) (FRA:SKYD), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE:BRK.A) (NYSE:BRK.B), Regus PLC (LON:RGU), Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) (PINK:ERIAF) and Sports Direct International Plc (LON:SPD).
Odey UK Absolute Return Fund is managed by James Hambury and Jamie Grimston. The fund manages $582 million in assets (up from $544.5 million in October). Total firm’s assets are above $2.3 billion, this ranks Odey Asset Management among the top 50 largest hedge funds in Europe, according to The Hedgefund Journal.
