What was already a terrible year for oil trader (and political activist) Pierre Andurand has just gotten worse.
One month after we reported that the French trader and oil permabull had suffered an already record loss of 46% through May 19, today we learn that Andurand’s losses accelerated in June, with his hedge fund slumping to its worst-ever phase of decline, and seeing its AUM cut by more than half in less than 6 months.
According to Bloomberg, the flagship Andurand Commodities Discretionary Enhanced Fund, which makes leveraged bets, fell by another 7% this month through June 23, extending this year’s losses to about 51%.
While Bloomberg writes that it’s not clear what led to the recent losses, it safe to say that the continued slide in oil - in big part thanks to Joe Biden's relentless drain of the Strategic Political Reserve - was the culprit.
Andurand - who is vehemently anti-Putin yet who benefited immensely from the oil squeeze prompted by the Ukraine war in 2022 which sent Brent soaring above $120, earlier this year predicted that oil prices may exceed $140 a barrel by the end of 2023. But those bullish calls have met with the commodity sliding on elevated inventory levels, a torrent of supply from Russia and rising shipments from two of OPEC’s most troubled exporters, Iran and Venezuela.
The money manager, who generated a 7x increase in his clients’ invested capital over the previous three years, has been hit by his worst-ever phase of losses for the strategy. The fund that Andurand runs with no set risk limits has lost money every month this year.
Andurand has been among several high-profile hedge fund traders who have seen fortunes turn after a strong gains last year. Said Haidar’s Jupiter macro money pool and billionaire Chris Rokos macro hedge fund suffered double-digit declines after volatile markets in March, while veteran macro trader Adam Levinson shut down his hedge fund after being hit by losses.
