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| Steve Rodley and Stuart Rae: navigating a sea of opportunities |
Steve Rodley calls shipping "the second oldest profession", and he could be right. Yet only about half a dozen hedge funds cover this deep and historical industry globally. Rodley’s is one of them. M2M Management, manager of the Global Maritime Investments hedge fund, is active in the physical and derivatives market of dry bulk shipping – cargoes such as coal, iron ore, industrial raw materials, grain and fertilizers, and the ships that carry them. The fund focuses primarily on the Panamax sector – 75,000-tonne ships, 230 metres long, that are so named because they are the maximum size that can negotiate the Panama Canal. Since the fund’s inception in October 2006, annualized returns of 31% net of all fees have been posted. Performance like that, coupled with the lack of correlation with other markets, is attracting attention from investors, and the fund has already reached $50 million from its $10 million starting point. The biggest reason why there are opportunities in the shipping market for hedge funds such as M2M is that the industry attracts an array of people with different agendas.
