Tuesday 22 March 2011

Man Group sells BlueCrest Capital to itself for $633 million

Don't get upset. I'll explain it to you. Man Group owned 25.5 per cent of BlueCrest. No more than that. BlueCrest owned the rest of itself, except for a stake that Bill Reeves was holding on to, for reasons best known to himself. BlueCrest bought him out as well. So, if I'm not confused, this should mean that BlueCrest now owns 100 per cent of itself, or at least the partners do, the partners that work there. Bill Reeves is retired. He doesn't work at BlueCrest.

Why has Man Group sold? It's because Mike Platt, the chief executive of BlueCrest, has fallen under my spell, at last. Why did it take so long for him to succumb to my charms? I couldn't tell you. (Neither then nor ... now, in the past, or in the present. I'll see you in the future. I may have an answer.) You will have to ask him, if you can find him. And Man Group doesn't like it. Man Group doesn't like anything I do. And it hates the power I have over the GLG guys. It sees me as Rasputin. Crazy, I know. Or Aleister Crowley. Madness! I'm as harmless as a kitten. The most delightful man in the world. Man Group's fear is irrational. Of course, Jack Pickles has disappeared. That makes the Man freaks even more paranoid. 'It's him. It’s Michael Fowke. He's the evil one.' Absolutely absurd. I don't deny there's a demonic side to my personality, BUT I HAVE NEVER BEEN ANYWHERE NEAR THE CAYMAN ISLANDS. You could show me the Cayman Islands on a map. I wouldn't have a clue.

Man Group may as well accuse me of being Big Herb or Ganesh the elephant god. It would make just as much sense. I HAVE GOT RID OF THE CHARACTERS. It's me, me, me, on my own. Easy to understand, surely? One voice, my voice. Alone. Me against the world. Anyone got a problem with that?

I'm still getting overexcited. Early days yet. Let's take it one step at a time. Old habits die hard, don't they?