A multi-billion dollar hedge fund that was split by Brexit profited from it
REUTERS/Lucas JacksonTraders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., June 24, 2016A hedge fund where the two founders were split on Brexit profited from the UK's decision to leave the European Union.
A hedge fund run by UK-based Marshall Wace gained 0.5% on Friday, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The Marshall Wace Global Opportunities Fund is up about 1.6% through the year, with a gain of about 1.5% for the month of June, according to a separate person who had viewed the figures.
The fund, which manages more than $2 billion, focuses on long and short global stock investments, the second person said. The Financial Times previously reported that Marshall Wace made money off its short positions on UK stocks.
Marshall Wace's leaders had been split by the Brexit, with founders Ian Wace and Paul Marshall donating to opposite sides.
Marshall, who was pro-Leave, wrote an op-ed that appeared in the Financial Times on Monday, arguing that British trade is better off without the EU.
"Success in the 21st-century economy will not be about centralised command-and-control bureaucracies," Marshall wrote in the piece. "It will be about freedom to innovate, flexibility, experimentation and networks."
Marshall Wace managed more than $22 billion firm-wide as of August last year.
Marshall Wace isn't the only hedge fund to profit off of the Brexit news, with managers small and large reporting gains. Those managers include startup fund Quadratic, billionaire Steve Schonfeld's hedge funds and George Soros, who recently returned to trading at his family office, which manages his fortune.