Odey hedge fund lost more than a fifth of value in 2017

LONDON (Reuters) - The value of the European hedge fund run by Crispin Odey dropped by around 20.5 percent last year as the veteran British investor's bets against the global economy hit the performance of his main fund.

The fund's euro share class also slumped by 8.2 percent last month, Odey told Reuters. The figures were first reported by Bloomberg.

Odey came to prominence during the 2008 financial crisis when he shorted banking shares, a lucrative wager that helped him to earn almost 28 million pounds that year.

More recently, however, his fund's performance has suffered heavily after he took a negative stance on the outlook for the global economy and bearish positions against shares that have not borne fruit.

His flagship fund experienced its worst-ever losses of almost 50 percent in 2016, a year that Odey has since described as awful.

His eponymous firm, Odey Asset Management, also saw its performance fees plunge to 60,000 pounds in the 12 months to April 5 2017, from 19.3 million pounds in the same period a year earlier, according to a company filing last month.

Operating profits dropped to 18.6 million pounds from 44.3 million in 2016, the filing showed.

(Reporting by Ben Martin; Editing by Keith Weir)

By Ben Martin