Brevan Howard Starts U.S. Investment Firm With $300 Million

Brevan Howard Asset Management LLP, Europe’s second-largest hedge fund, has opened a U.S. investment firm that will start trading in August with an estimated $300 million.

Brevan Howard U.S. Investment Management LP was set up in New York last month and is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the hedge fund said in a statement today. It will start investing money provided by Brevan Howard’s Master Fund in August, the company said.

Brevan Howard is expanding after it outperformed the hedge- fund industry last year and assets under management increased by $2.5 billion to $36.7 billion in the first six months of 2011. Brevan Howard, in documents filed last month with the SEC, said it expects the “initial” assets overseen by the new U.S. investment firm will be about $300 million.

Alan Howard, 48, founded Brevan Howard in 2002 with four other fixed-income traders from Credit Suisse Group AG. The firm’s Master Fund, with more than $25 billion, gained 12 percent last year. Macro hedge funds, which trade currencies, bonds, commodities and interest rates based on global economic trends, fell 7.4 percent last year on average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The Master Fund declined 2.2 percent in June and was down 3.6 percent for the first six months of 2012. It hasn’t posted an annual loss since its inception in April 2003. Brevan Howard also has hedge funds focused on commodities, emerging markets and bonds. Officials at the firm declined to comment.

Brevan Howard disclosed the creation of the U.S. investment firm in a monthly note sent to investors of BH Macro Ltd., a publicly traded company that raises money for the Master Fund.

The hedge fund also said it started trading from a Sao Paulo office in May, according to the letter. Brevan Howard announced plans to open an office in the country in September 2010.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jesse Westbrook in London at jwestbrook1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net