Thursday, February 28, 2008

Brian Hunter, Natural Gas and Enron

Near and dear to my heart.
From Canadian Business:

Some people think they know Brian Hunter, the Canadian trader blamed for the world’s largest hedge fund failure. They consider him an overconfident Street punk, a capitalist flash-in-the-pan who imploded Amaranth Advisors LLC in September 2006 simply because greedy fund managers allowed him to bet billions that bad weather would drive up energy prices. They applaud Lady Luck for inflating Hunter’s ego to the point where he believed he could “model God,” then unleashing the mild hurricane season that reportedly destroyed his reputation along with the Connecticut-based hedge fund. These folks claim to understand Hunter’s values. They point to his winter car as if it says something bad about his DNA. The vehicle in question is rumoured to be a Bentley Arnage, which apparently handles slush better than the Calgary native’s summer ride, a Ferrari F430 Spider.

But nice cars don’t say a thing about what makes anyone tick. Hunter’s critics are wrong on the other counts, too.

At best, the Bentley shows Hunter likes options, which is not noteworthy. Trading financial ones, after all, is how he used to make a respectable living. And while the employment options of Canada’s highest-profile commodities speculator are now limited...MORE

HT: InVivoAnalytics: