By Chanyaporn Chanjaroen
May 13 (Bloomberg) -- BlueGold Capital Management LLP and Galena Asset Management Ltd. extended their winning streak in the first four months, outpacing competing hedge funds and commodities.
Pierre Andurand’s $1.1 billion BlueGold energy fund rose 35 percent through April, two people with direct knowledge of the returns said, declining to be named because the data are confidential. Galena’s $430 million metals fund added 8.6 percent, according to David Mimra, London-based head of sales and marketing.
The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index of 19 raw materials rose 6.1 percent this year, rebounding from its worst year in a half century, led by a 65 percent gain in gasoline. Assets in commodity-related indexes and exchange-traded funds advanced $18 billion to $172 billion in the first quarter, according to Barclays Capital.
“As commodity prices now appear to be bottoming, we are seeing an increase in investor interest” in funds not governed by index weightings, said Adam De Chiara, fund manager for Jefferies Asset Management’s commodities unit in Stamford, Connecticut.
BlueGold and Galena’s gains compare with an average four- month advance of 4.2 percent for all hedge funds monitored by Chicago-based Hedge Fund Research Inc. Hedge funds returned an average of 3.2 percent in April, the best performance in more than three years, according to Eurekahedge Pte.
The BlueGold fund was started by Andurand, a 32-year-old amateur Thai kickboxer, and Dennis Crema, 49, in February 2008. Both previously worked at commodity trader Vitol Group. BlueGold returned 209 percent last year. Andurand declined to comment.
Commodity Trader
Galena Asset Management, managed by Jeremy Weir, is the investment unit of Trafigura Beheer BV, the third-largest independent oil trader. The company started an energy hedge fund last month, headed by Claude Lixi, who traded oil options at Morgan Stanley.
Clive Capital LLP made 3.4 percent in the first four months, according to investors. The London-based hedge fund, managing about $2.3 billion, returned 44 percent last year. The company declined to comment.
The $1.3 billion Merchant Commodity Fund, run by Singapore- based Aisling Analytics Pte Ltd., returned 2 percent in the first four months, according to investors. The fund was founded by former Cargill Inc. traders Michael Coleman and Doug King.
The rebound in commodities is attracting investors again, on optimism that the worst global recession since World War II is improving. Holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust, the biggest exchange-traded fund backed by bullion, reached a record of almost 1,128 metric tons last month, overtaking Switzerland as the world’s sixth-largest gold holding.
‘Recession is Over’
“We think the recession is over,” said Jan Loeys, head of global market strategy at JPMorgan Chase & Co., in an interview in Hong Kong. “Commodities, materials in particular, are going to be benefiting right now as investors actually start to get worried about future inflation.”
U.S. consumer prices will advance 0.9 percent in the fourth quarter and 1.7 percent in 2010, according to as many as 77 economists surveyed by Bloomberg.
Most of the funds outpaced returns from the CRB index. Copper has been the second-biggest gainer after gasoline, rising 50 percent, as China increased imports to bolster stockpiles.
Paul Touradji’s Global Resources fund returned 0.4 percent in the first four months, according to two people familiar with the matter. Armel Leslie, an outside spokesman for New York- based Touradji Capital Management LP, which manages $2.6 billion, declined to comment.
Vermillion Asset
Vermillion Asset Management LLC’s $850 million Viridian commodity fund lost about 3.5 percent in the period, according to a person with knowledge of the result. The fund, founded by New York-based Drew Gilbert and Chris Nygaard, started trading in June 2005.
The Krom River Commodity Fund retreated 8.1 percent in the first four months, investors said, citing preliminary estimates from the company. The $550 million fund, started by Chris Brodie in 2006, returned almost 37 percent last year. The Baar, Switzerland-based fund manager declined to comment.
Hedge funds are private, largely unregulated pools of capital whose managers can buy or sell any assets, bet on falling as well as rising prices and participate substantially in profits from money invested.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chanyaporn Chanjaroen in London at cchanjaroen@bloomberg.net
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