Odey Asset Management is shutting an emerging markets fund as the firm continues to reorganize in the wake of sexual assault allegations against founder Crispin Odey.
The Brook Global Emerging Markets Fund — run by Sophia Whitbread, the only female portfolio manager at what used to be Crispin Odey’s investment empire — will close no later than Sept. 22 “due to the significant reduction in assets under management,” the firm said Tuesday in a letter to clients.
The fund’s assets had dropped to $33 million at the end of July, from a peak of $104 million earlier this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
A spokesperson for the London-based firm declined to comment.
Read More: Odey’s Only Female Money Manager Gains; Clients Exit Anyway
Odey Asset Management has been struggling to contain an exodus since a Financial Times investigation in June into Crispin Odey’s alleged treatment of women over roughly 25 years. He has denied the allegations. Assets in the firm’s funds tumbled following the report.
Whitbread, who previously worked at Newton Investment Management, joined Brook two years ago and manages the emerging market strategy that fell 10.1% this year through Monday. She took over from Robert Marshall-Lee who left a year after joining Odey Asset Management.
Since June, the firm has shut two other funds while its money managers including Freddie Neave, Adrian Courtenay, James Hanbury and Oliver Kelton are being rehoused at external investment firms.
--With assistance from Sam Nagarajan.
(Updates with context in the last three paragraphs.)
