Oil-Focused Hedge Fund (Westbeck Capital) Launching New EV Hedge Fund …
Even major oil investors are now making bets that plug-in electric vehicles are here to stay. As an example, the oil-focused hedge fund firm Westbeck Capital is now actually slated to launch an “electric vehicle hedge fund,” the company has revealed.
So, to say that once again: a fairly large fossil fuel–focused hedge fund firm is now planning a hedge fund focused on plug-in electric vehicles and the coming “electric revolution.”
Not very ambiguous wording, eh?
The plan is for the new equities fund to give investors the chance to take advantage of the growing interest in the electric vehicle sector — going on a report from Reuters, which followed a draft investor presentation the media agency was provided.
Reuters provides more: “Westbeck’s Electric Metals Fund will aim ‘to capitalize on the electric revolution,’ the presentation said, investing in 30-50 stocks, many in metals hotspots Australia and Canada.
“The fund will bet on both rising and falling share prices of companies focused on the raw materials needed for the development of electric vehicles, such as batteries and supporting infrastructure.
“London-based Westbeck will launch the fund next month with the aim of raising $100 million this year before capping the fund at $200 million, a source close to the firm said. The fund is believed to be one of the first — if not the first — to focus solely on electric vehicles, two lawyers and a hedge fund banker told Reuters.”
So, the equities fund will be a pretty substantial one from the sounds of it — not simply a matter of the company sticking its toes in the water.
That said, the new fund will of course be offered alongside massive funds that invest solely in fossil fuel industry and associated firms.
A bit more background here: “Westbeck was set up in 2016 by former CQS Asset Management portfolio manager Will Smith, Jean-Louis Le Mee, who was previously at oil hedge fund firm BlueGold Capital, and Jon Mellberg, former head of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Smith and Le Mee will run the new fund with trained physicist Jon Hykawy, who recently joined as head of research and partner. The fund will charge a 1.5% performance fee and 15% management fee, the presentation showed.”
Interesting news … but that’s modern-style “capitalism” I guess. It’ll be interesting to see how long it takes for the financial industry to turn on the fossil fuel industry.
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