Brevan Howard Joins Hedge Fund Shift With 100-Person UAE Outpost

Nishant Kumar, Ben Bartenstein and Bei Hu, Bloomberg News

The office building at 55 Baker Street, housing the offices of Brevan Howard Asset Management LP, in London, U.K., on Monday, Aug. 23, 2021. Famed investment firm Brevan Howard, which as recently as mid-2019 was struggling to stem an unprecedented client exodus, shut its flagship fund to investors earlier this year. Photographer: Jason Alden/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) --

Brevan Howard Asset Management is opening an outpost in Abu Dhabi, joining a string of peers expanding in the Middle East region that’s fast becoming a major hub for hedge funds.

The Jersey, Channel Islands-based investment firm, best known for macro trading and a recent push into digital assets, plans to have about 100 people in the region, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Some of the staff will be supporting Brevan Howard’s digital currency fund, the people said, asking not to be identified because the details are private.

A spokesman for the firm declined to comment.

The move follows efforts by Abu Dhabi, whose sovereign wealth funds oversee more than $1.2 trillion, to draw in more foreign money and financial firms. A growing number of hedge fund traders also want to be based there, attracted in part by its lack of income tax.

The United Arab Emirates already plays host to a number of alternative investors. Multi-strategy hedge fund Balyasny Asset Management is set to open an office in Dubai during the first quarter, Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management has more than two dozen staff in the city, while Michael Gelband’s ExodusPoint Capital Management is also expanding there. Michael Platt’s private investment firm BlueCrest Capital Management is building a presence too.

Read More: Michael Platt’s Highly Leveraged Fortune Balloons to $11 Billion

With double-digit gains in its two main hedge funds in 2022, Brevan Howard is on its strongest footing in years as Chief Executive Officer Aron Landy executes his business plans, having taken over the role from co-founder Alan Howard in 2019. Assets have risen to $30 billion, or about five times the lows seen in late 2018, while headcount has grown to more than 700.

Brevan Howard has expanded its offerings to more than 10 funds, adding liquid credit and systematic trading to its core macro strategies. It has also been building out BH Digital to take advantage of rising institutional interest in emerging cryptoassets. The firm opened new sites in the Cayman Islands, Paris and Chicago last year.

--With assistance from Dinesh Nair.

(Corrects story published Feb. 2 to remove reference to Tel Aviv office in final paragraph.)