'Superwoman' fund spirals down in its worst-ever month

Nick Goodway
22 Jun 2009

Bramdean Alternatives, the listed fund managed by City superwoman Nicola Horlick, had its worst-ever month in May when its net asset value plunged by 7.7%.

Control of the fund was wrested from Horlick supporters by its largest shareholder Vincent Tchenguiz after a tight shareholder vote last week.

Tchenguiz installed a new board with the brief to wind up the fund to create as much value for shareholders as possible.

Horlick will meet the new chairman Jonathan Carr this week and is expected to be told she is being axed as the fund's manager.

That could lead to her claiming as much as £8 million as a termination fee although Carr is likely to challenge that figure.

Bramdean was launched in July 2007 since when its shares have lost 45% of their value dropping to 55p.

The fund lost £10 million late last year after investing with convicted New York fraudster Bernie Madoff.

During May, Bramdean's net asset value dropped from 88.14p a share to 81.35p.

The fall of 7.7% is the worst monthly performance in the fund's history with the next worse month being November 2008 when it dropped 6.15% because of the Madoff losses.

In contrast, May was a strong month for many hedge funds with the Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index rising by 4.06%.