Bosses at Marshall Wace to get £316m

HEDGE fund bosses at Marshall Wace have split a whopping £316million payout after bumper trading during the pandemic.

Documents reveal turnover soared to £958 million over the year to February, up from £570million the previous year, after its investments performed ‘resiliently’.

The £316million profit share – split between Marshall Wace’s 21 members – is almost treble the £116 million payout in 2020. It means the top partners received an average of about £15 million each.

Marshall Wace was co-founded by Brexit-backing tycoon Sir Paul Marshall and Ian Wace in 1997 and now has $55 billion (£42 billion) assets under management.

It specialises in spotting companies with overpriced shares, then gambling that their value will fall – known as ‘short selling’.

The company was criticised for taking short positions against firms at the start of the pandemic after making huge gains. Others to benefit include Crispin Odey’s Odey Asset Management, billionaire US investor Ken Griffin’s Citadel, and AQR Capital, co-founded by billionaire Cliff Asness.

Marshall Wace’s biggest current short positions are against pub group Marston’s, plus retailers Asos, Boohoo and AO World.

Directors said: ‘There has been no material impact to the partnership’s revenues and liquidity.’

Last week, Marshall accused the City of allowing the stock market to fall behind its rivals because investors are too obsessed with chasing dividends.

Marshall Wace declined to comment.