![]() The Powell’s serendipitous discovery had sparked an idea within the RSPB, which asked the Powell’s if they would be willing to have the first official red kite feeding centre at Gigrin Farm. “We thought we were in trouble, because these are protected species of course.”įar from it. “Next thing we know there was a call from the RSPB, and they wanted an urgent meeting,” says Powell. Thrilled with their visitors, the Powells continued to feed the kites with rabbits when they were available – and later with meat from the local butcher. “We hadn’t seen them in this area ever, so we were really quite excited with that.”Īt the time, these charismatic raptors with their distinctive forked tails and rusty hue, while still found in many parts of Western Europe, were a rare sight in the UK. “We came out from lunch one day and two kites were dipping down on the rabbit,” recalls Powell. Rather than waste the carcasses, the Powells deposited them in a field away from their herd of sheep to distract the crows and ravens from harming newborn lambs. At the time, the Powell’s enthusiastic spaniel was dispatching rabbits with ruthless aplomb. The Powell’s 200-acre farm sits in a peaceful patch of Welsh countryside next to the market town of Rhayader in mid Wales. In 1992, Chris Powell and his father Either unwittingly became involved in arguably the UK’s greatest conversation success story – the spectacular recovery of the red kite ( Milvus milvus). In the surrounding trees, red kites that have already arrived watch the field below with keen eyes in anticipation of what's coming. In an outlook sent to its investors last month, also seen by Reuters, Red Kite said it expected “a great deal of uncertainty” to remain in the supply-demand of base metals for the fourth quarter through 2014.īut it also said the mine supply environment appeared “extremely conducive to lower copper prices in the 2014-2016 period”.THE SKY rings with the distinctive mewling whistle of the red kite as hundreds of birds, spiralling with easy grace on currents of warm air, glide towards Gigrin Farm. This year, the Red Kite funds lost money only once in the first nine months, in June, when copper hit a 3-year low of $6,602 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange. Those familiar with Red Kite’s strategy said it changed tack then, switching to a short position on copper and other metals that helped its funds to a strong finish in 2008 as the onset of the financial crisis caused a commodities meltdown. The firm had a good two years before it was wrong-footed on bullish bets on aluminum and copper in 2007 and lost almost half its value. Relative value trades are gaining traction in metals as investors try to reduce risk by exploiting price differentials between markets such as copper and aluminum.įarmer and Lilley, both alums of copper trading legend Metallgesellschaft AG, founded Red Kite in 2004. An investor report said the fund was focused on long/short and relative value trades in base and precious metals. Red Kite’s Compass Fund, its largest with nearly $500 million under management, gained 13 percent in the first nine months. In September, metals-and-energy-focused Clive Capital, run since 2007 by Chris Levett and with about $5 billion under management at its peak, closed after three straight years of losses. Oil-focused Astenbeck, a more than $4 billion fund run by Andy Hall, who also heads up trading firm Phibro, is down 5 percent. ![]() Armajaro this week sold its lost-making physical cocoa and coffee trading unit to Switzerland’s Ecom. ![]() The flagship fund at cocoa-and-coffee-focused Armajaro which manages around $1 billion and trades most major commodities, is up just 3 percent through October. Many funds focused on the energy, metals and agricultural markets are down for the year or have eked out only small gains due to range-bound raw materials prices and tough trading conditions. Red Kite’s run of profits since 2011 contrasts with meager returns at other hedge fund firms that also have physical commodity trading operations.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |