Former Tory donor’s fund hit by bond market turmoil
FORMER top Tory donor Chris Rokos made a slimmer return for investors last year after his hedge fund was caught up in the bond market turmoil triggered by Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse.
Rokos Capital Management, the trader’s investment business, returned 8.8pc for investors in 2023 after cutting exposure to riskier investments.
That return, first reported by Bloomberg, is a significant step down from the 51pc generated in 2022.
The hedge fund suffered losses after the unexpected collapse of Silicon Valley Bank earlier in the year prompted a surge in bond prices.
Rokos Capital was down about 15pc for the month of March after it was wrongfooted by the market upheaval.
The fund, which manages $16bn (£12.5bn) for investors, then shifted its money out of losing positions and had recouped its losses by July.
A good second half to the year helped it generate a positive return across the 12 months.
Mr Rokos, 53, was a major donor to the Conservative Party, handing it around £2m from 2009 to 2015. He last donated in 2018 when he gave £70,000.
Mr Rokos made his name as a star trader for Alan Howard, the billionaire founder of Brevan Howard.
He single-handedly made annual profits of more than $1bn for the fund twice while employed there. The Eton and Oxford-educated trader left to personally invest his own wealth in 2012. He later took legal action against Brevan Howard to quash a non-compete clause in order to launch his own fund.
Since launching in 2015, Rokos Capital has become one of the largest hedge funds in London.
It is based on Savile Row in Mayfair, the heart of the hedge fund industry. In 2010 the Financial Times reported that Mr Rokos, who rarely gives interviews, was the owner of Domenichino’s 1620 painting St John the Evangelist, which was displayed at the National Gallery.
The firm, which employs about 250 people, is unusual in the sector for running one very large fund.
It practises a type of investing known as macro trading, which involves examining the entire universe of stocks, bonds, currencies and derivatives to spot trends.
A spokesman for Rokos Capital declined to comment.