Most hedge fund mangers cringe at the memory of the 2008 financial crisis, when performance was dismal and investor redemptions were widespread. That year, however, New York–based Caxton Associates, one of the longest-running hedge fund firms in the world, bucked the trend. The global macro firm posted a 13 percent net return on its Caxton Global Investments fund, when most hedge funds were in the red, thanks to aggressive leveraged bets by then-London–based managing director Andrew Law on the widening of spreads in certain credit markets. Law’s wager helped the firm’s macro strategy produce 8.1 percent returns in the final quarter of 2008 alone. As a result, Caxton’s founder and then-CEO and -CIO Bruce Kovner pocketed $640 million, making him the sixth highest-paid hedge fund manager in the world…
