Crispin Odey's sons & the downside of a famous finance parent

As a storm envelops Odey Asset Management (OAM) following last week's claims in the Financial Times about founder Crispin Odey's alleged decades-long sexual harassment of his female staff, the advantages of having Odey as a surname look considerably diminished.

While the (alleged) sins of the father should not be visited on the sons in a career context, the iniquity now associated - rightly or wrongly - with Crispin Odey, will painful to his sons. It may also be awkward, given that one of them works for a firm which has moved rapidly to distance itself from OAM.

Felix Odey joined Schroders in 2016 after graduating from Edinburgh University. He's now a portfolio manager on the global resources team, based in London. However, Schroders last week was one of the first funds to sell all its holding in OAM after the assault allegations emerged. The FT reported that Schroders had already been selling its holding in OAM over the preceding months, but then divested its entire remaining position in a 24-hour period after the assault allegations emerged. 

Felix isn't the only Odey progeny working in finance in London: his younger brother Max joined Rothschild's energy and power team as an analyst earlier this year. 

Neither Felix nor Max are implicated in their father's alleged transgressions, and both deserve some sympathy for the opprobrium being heaped upon their family name. They may, however, have benefitted from the association in the past. - With net worth calculated at £825m by the Sunday Times and a multi-decade investing career, Crispin Odey has long been a big beast in the City of London.

In the future, his sons may benefit more from their association with their mother - herself a storied British fund manager who was coincidentally a director at Schroders between 2012 and 2020. 

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