Pierre Andurand

Pierre Andurand (born February 1977) is a French businessman and hedge fund manager, specialising in the oil market.[1] In 2008 Forbes Magazine placed him in its list of the top 20 highest-earning hedge-fund managers.[2] Andurand's various funds have produced cumulative returns of between 900-1300% for investors since 2008.[3] As of 2012, he is also the Chairman and majority shareholder of Glory Sports International, the parent company of the Glory World Series international kickboxing league.

Pierre Andurand
Born1977 (age 43–44)
Aix-en-Provence, France
OccupationBusinessman

Early life and education

Andurand was born in the French city of Aix en Provence. At eight years old, he moved with his family to the French island of Réunion, off the African coast. He spent six years there before returning to Aix en Provence. At the age of seventeen he moved to the city of Toulouse to attend the Institut National des Sciences Appliquées (National Institute of Applied Sciences) At INSA he achieved an Msc. in Applied Mathematics before moving to École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris (HEC School of Management in Paris), where he achieved an MSc. in International Finance.[4] He also holds an MSc. in Mathematical and Theoretical Physics from the University of Oxford, and an MSc. in Astrophysics from Queen Mary University of London.

A keen swimmer in his youth, Andurand was a member of the French National Junior Swimming Team in 1993 and 1994.[5]

Career

After graduation Andurand was recruited by Goldman Sachs to work as an oil trader for its commodities trading unit in Singapore.

After Goldman Sachs he joined Bank of America Singapore as a Principal in oil trading. He then joined Vitol in Singapore as a trading manager. Privately owned Vitol is the world's largest oil trading company, shipping in excess of 200 million tons of crude oil per year. Andurand then moved to London in 2004 and was made a partner. He was rumoured to be one of the most successful traders in the company, earning him a bonus payment of $20 million at the end of one particularly successful year's trading.[5]

Bluegold Capital

In October 2007, Andurand co-founded the hedge-fund investment group BlueGold. He was the majority shareholder and Chief Investment Officer at BlueGold. The BlueGold Global Fund was then launched in February 2008 with $300 million assets under management. In June of that year, its returns were described by the New York Post as being of "eye-popping" and "monstrous" proportions.[6] Its peak in Assets Under Management reached $2.4 billion. Performance was 210% in 2008, 55% in 2009, 13% in 2010, and -34% in 2011.[7][8][9] BlueGold was closed in April 2012, returning close to 99% of its assets under management within a month, after the founders decided to go their separate ways.[10]

Andurand Capital

In February 2013, Pierre Andurand launched a new hedge fund: Andurand Capital, which invests mostly in commodities including oil but also has a secondary focus on metals and other commodities. According to Bloomberg the fund managed in excess of $1bn in 2019.[11][12][13][14]

In 2013, the Andurand Commodities Fund finished the year as one of the best performing commodities hedge funds with a 25% return.[15] In 2014, it generated a 38% return net of all fees by correctly forecasting the sharp decline in crude oil prices. [16][17][18][19][20]

In 2016 Andurand turned bullish on oil, amid a bear market that saw oil at a 12-year low of $30 a barrel. He returned 22% that year.[21]

2020 Covid-19 pandemic and world oil price slump

In an interview with the Financial Times, Andurand said the Covid-19 had become his singular area of focus since early 2020, when he spent two weeks studying the early spread of the disease. Andurand claimed it was clear to him from February that the virus was going to spread to the rest of the world, that it was contagious, and that the potential death toll meant there was no other way than to enforce a lockdown. He positioned his two funds to bet against the oil price, in the belief that energy would be one of the hardest-hit sectors. As of May 2020 one of Andurand’s funds was up +148% for the year.[22][23]

Glory Kickboxing

A martial arts fan,[2] Andurand turned to kickboxing as a means to keep fit while working as an oil trader. He formed Glory World Series after rival series K-1 ran into financial difficulties and refused Andurand's offer of a buy-out.

In September 2016 Glory Sports International announced a Series B financing round with Yao Capital, the investment firm founded by Chinese basketball star Yao Ming, acquiring a significant strategic stake in the company; Liberty Global also participated in the syndicate. Existing Glory shareholders, including TwinFocus Capital Partners of Boston, also participated in the financing round.[24]

Marriage

In August 2011, Andurand married Evgenia Slusarenko, before they agreed to a divorce in 2016.[25]

In July 2019 Andurand married Elena Sereda.[26]

See also

References
  1. "Director info". Company Check.
  2. "BlueGold's kickboxing oil trader aims to strike back". Reuters. February 10, 2010.
  3. Sheppard, David (10 August 2017). "Andurand hedge fund's $100 oil bet stands out from the herd". Financial Times. Retrieved 2018-06-18.
  4. "Optimiste, réaliste… et de bonne réputation" (in French). l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC).
  5. "Oil Hedge Fund BlueGold to Liquidate". MoneyNews. April 6, 2012.
  6. Whitehouse, Kaja. "'SLICK' BETS PROPEL BLUEGOLD RETURNS A MONSTROUS 160%". New York Post.
  7. Aldrick, Philip. "BlueGold closes and returns funds to investors". Telegraph.
  8. Mackintosh, James (13 January 2009). "BlueGold coins it". FT Alphaville.
  9. King, Ian. "BlueGold swims against the tide". Times.
  10. Jones, Sam (5 April 2012). "BlueGold hedge fund liquidates assets". Financial Times.
  11. "Eleven Hedge Fund Traders Scored Big During Worst of the Crisis". Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  12. Sheppard, David; Hume, Neil (1 September 2015). "Oil bear bets on return to $25 a barrel". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  13. Nussbaum, Alex; Kishan, Saijel (15 September 2016). "Andurand Stays Bullish on Oil, Predicting 'Hefty' Drop in Supply". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
  14. Yang, Stephanie (25 June 2018). "Oil Hedge Funds Struggle in Age of Algos". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2018-06-28.
  15. Hume, Neil. "Investors starting to look at commodities again". Financial Times. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  16. "Taylor Woods, Andurand Shine As Commodity Funds Suffer". FIN Alternatives.
  17. Foster, Mike (Jan 8, 2015). "eFinancial News". The trend is AHL's friend, at last. Dow Jones. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  18. Fortado, Lindsay. "Andurand Hedge Fund Said to Gain 18% in November Shorting Oil". Bloomberg Business. Bloomberg. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  19. Wainewright, Will. "Andurand Hedge Fund Said to Gain 38% Last Year on Oil Slide Bet". Bloomberg Business. Bloomberg. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  20. Sheppard, David. "Hedge fund manager Andurand strikes gold again by betting on oil crash". Reuters.com. Reuters. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  21. Editorial, Reuters. "Energy hedge fund Andurand up 22.2 pct in 2016 - source". U.K. Retrieved 2018-06-18.
  22. Sheppard, David. "The fall and rise of Pierre Andurand, oil's comeback kid". FT.com. Financial Times. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  23. Vardi, Nathan. "The Winning And Losing Hedge Funds Of The March Pandemic". Forbes.com. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
  24. International, Glory Sports. "Yao Capital and Liberty Global Conclude Strategic Investment in GLORY". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 2016-09-27.
  25. Walsh, Kate (2012-01-15). "Prufrock: Tamara's hissy fit at buyout boys". The Sunday Times. ISSN 0956-1382. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  26. "Mr P. Andurand and Miss E. Sereda – Engagements Announcements – Telegraph Announcements". announcements.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-07-26.
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