(Bloomberg) — David Rogers is having a dream run at Castle Hook Partners, the $1.8 billion hedge fund backed by investors including billionaire Stan Druckenmiller.
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The fund is up about 120% since April 2020, according to people with knowledge of the matter, after taking a hit in the early part of last year in the pandemic’s initial selloff. It lost 10% in the first three months of 2020, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information is private.
The turnaround is in sharp contrast to the fund’s modest returns since starting five years ago with about $900 million. The money included a substantial anchor investment from Druckenmiller who trained Rogers at his former hedge fund Duquesne Capital Management and once described him as an “extremely talented” money manager.
Gains in 2020 were evenly split between wagers on equities, rates and foreign exchange, according to one of the people. The firm turned bullish on inflation and commodities late last year, themes that continued to drive performance in 2021, the person said.
A spokesperson for Castle Hook declined to comment.
Castle Hook, which uses macro economic analysis to bet across asset classes, is emerging as one of the biggest beneficiaries of a recovery in asset prices since the spread of Covid-19 infections locked economies across the globe and forced governments to intervene.
After losing money initially, hedge funds have exploited a rally in stocks to bounce back, gaining 35% since March of last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The money making spree has revived interest in the industry with investors pouring $38 billion into hedge funds this year and pushing assets to record levels, data compiled by eVestment shows.
Rogers, who previously managed money at billionaire George Soros’s family office, started Castle Hook in 2016 after leaving Soros’s firm following a disagreement with then CIO Ted Burdick about the direction of global markets.
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