How hedge fund managers made tens of millions of pounds out of speculating on Brexit vote
While ordinary people were panicking the rich were getting richer with a series of multi-million pound bets
BILLIONAIRE currency traders pushed for Brexit and are now profiting from it by betting on the uncertainty in the financial markets.
Dubbed the Posh and Becks of the London money world, Crispin Odey and his banker wife Nichola Pease, are said to have made tens of millions yesterday when the markets crashed.
And George Soros, known as the man who broke the Bank of England, is another hedge fund managers said to have cashed in as the pound and shares tumbled.
Hedge fund manager Mr Odey, founder of Odey Asset Management, secured a multimillion-pound profit for himself and his investors after big bets on gold and the US dollar paid off.
Mr Odey, who is said to be worth £900 million and manages more than £10 billion for investors, was ecstatic after it was announced Britain had voted for Brexit.
He declaring it a “black day for those who would prefer decisions to be made in darkened rooms by experts”.
The Times reports his fund is expected to have made a return of 15% as the pound crashed by 10% against the dollar, while the gold price jumped by $66 to $1,327.20.
He had also bet against the prices of several major companies listed on the London stock exchange and is thought to have made big money as stocks plummeted.
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Mr Odey said: “I’ve made back what I’ve lost over the last ten days and a little bit more.”
Mr Soros had warned that Brexit would trigger a drop in the value of the pound, a sharp decline in household income and a recession - and he too is thought to have profited from stock market fears over the result.
Bankers in Canary Wharf also took advantage of the cheap odds on Brexit, which was given only a 14% chance by bookies hours before polls closed on Thursday, to make massive bets on Britain voting Leave.
They include one trader at a Wall Street bank who made £70,000 on a £10,000 bet on a Brexit vote.
Not everybody made big bucks out of Brexit though with Sporting Index, the world’s largest sports spread better, reporting it had put the champagne bottles back in the fridge by midnight.
Heavy punting on Leave left the company out of pocket and the company’s political spokesman Ed Fulton told The Times: “We were getting ready to pop the champagne corks at 10pm when a Remain win looked highly likely, but by midnight the bottles were shoved back in the fridge,”