Data from FTAdviser’s sister publication, Asset Allocator, indicates that only one Brook Asset Management fund, the aforementioned Absolute Return Strategy, has gained any traction among the UK’s largest wealth managers, appearing in two of the portfolios that publication tracks.
Some of Brook's funds, none of which are managed by Odey himself, have suffered in the fallout, with Brook Absolute Return, which is £145mn in size, and the £192.3mn Brook Developed Market fund, being gated as a consequence of client withdrawals.
But Odey’s involvement in asset and wealth management has stretched beyond the entities that currently or previously bore his name.
A representative of Somerset Capital, an emerging markets fund management firm, confirmed that a company owned by Crispin Odey was a partner in the Somerset business until 2016. The business was founded by the Conservative MP Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, and Lord Dominic Johnson.
Johnson, who is not related to Boris Johnson, became a member of the House of Lords under Prime Minister Liz Truss and is now a minister for international trade.
Rees-Mogg was chief executive of Somerset Capital until he was elected to parliament in 2010, at which point Lord Johnson succeeded him until becoming a minister.
A representative of the wealth management firm Ruffer also confirmed that a company of Crispin Odey, while not involved in the day-to-day operation of the business, did “share a commercial interest”, with Ruffer in the 1990s when Odey helped Jonathan Ruffer and the Earl of Ferrers launch that business.
Bigger picture
The FCA had been investigating non-financial misconduct and corporate governance issues at Odey Asset Management in recent years, and concerns that Crispin Odey wielded too much power at the firm, even after he stepped down as chief executive in 2020.
The notion of an all-powerful fund manager with his name over the door being able to dominate a firm is something that has been on the minds of many investors since the debacle surrounding the collapse of Woodford Investment Management.
Ben Yearsley, investment director at Fairview, says: “Events at some of the boutique-type firms in recent years have really meant that investors, such as me, are putting corporate governance higher up our list of priorities when looking at a firm.
"I think investors are very wary now when they see a scenario where the fund manager is the majority owner of the company, and the ceo, and managing the money.
"The thing is, the same fund managers wouldn’t tolerate that in a listed company they might look to invest in, so we as clients of the fund manager have a right to be concerned about governance there. And that applies even if the fund manager isn’t the chief executive, as if they are the majority shareholder they still have control.”
