Hedge fund manager Crispin Odey has closed three funds with combined assets of $1bn to new investors, arguing the market has become "much more difficult" to trade in

The main Odey European hedge fund, as well as the OEI MAC and Odey Swan funds, have all been soft closed to new money. Existing clients can still add to and withdraw from their holdings.

The company said this was to "protect the interests of our existing investors... and to provide the best opportunities for fund performance in the future", according to an investor letter first reported by Financial News. 

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Odey Asset Management's move follows a record investment performance this year. 

Gains on the main hedge fund had surged 193% by the first week of October on the back of UK market turmoil following the former Prime Minister Liz Truss's disastrous Budget on 23 September, as Odey successfully bet the value of sterling and gilts would fall.

Odey Asset Management has told clients the three funds have been closed to keep their assets "within a level that does not compromise our ability to maintain the strategy's risk/reward profile, and consequently performance", the Times reported.

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Odey told the Times he did not believe new investors to the portfolios "were going to get a very good deal".

He said: "I did not want a whole lot of people coming in on the basis of very high returns, they might get disappointed.

"It is a much more difficult market, there are lots of things that are cross-currents today," he added. "When I can see something I make 200%, when I cannot see anything I make zero, I am sure."