Brevan Howard Plans $750 Million Push Into Commodities Trading

Brevan Howard Asset Management is building out a team to trade commodities as the macro hedge fund group diversifies its business.

(Bloomberg) — Brevan Howard Asset Management is building out a team to trade commodities as the macro hedge fund group diversifies its business.

The firm has hired Elycia Sherman, former global head of trading for energy and commodities specialist Hartree Capital Management, to lead the expansion, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Her team is likely to get an allocation of about $750 million, the people said, asking not to be identified because the details are private.

Sherman and a spokeswoman for Brevan Howard declined to comment.

The hedge fund group, co-founded by billionaire Alan Howard, joins an increasing number of peers including Citadel and BlueCrest Capital Management pushing into commodities. Eisler Capital this month hired former BP Plc energy trader Tim Hayes as it expands into new strategies.

Brevan Howard has expanded rapidly in the past few years, with assets of more than $34 billion, roughly five times bigger than its 2018 low. Under Chief Executive Officer Aron Landy, Brevan Howard has added liquid credit and systematic trading to its core macro strategies and has also been building out BH Digital to take advantage of rising institutional interest in emerging crypto assets.

Brevan Howard previously ran a commodity hedge managed by Stephane Nicolas fund that it decided to shutter in 2014 after losses.

–With assistance from Devika Krishna Kumar.

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