36 South Capital Advisors

The Kohinoor Core Fund maintains a persistent long-volatility posture, using deep-out-of-the-money options and volatility swaps across equities, fixed income, currencies, and commodities. The fund carries negative carry in calm markets — bleeding small premiums — in exchange for highly convex returns during market dislocations. This strategy returned over 119% in 2008 and roughly 100% during the March 2020 volatility spike (per Bloomberg, 2021).

Unlike Universa, which pairs tail-risk hedging with a return-seeking alpha book that offsets carry costs, 36 South has historically run a purer mandate — treating the persistent negative carry as an intentional feature rather than a problem to hedge away. This structural choice means 36 South experiences deeper drawdowns during extended calm periods but captures more convex payouts when volatility events occur.

Brothers Jerry and Richard Haworth founded 36 South in London in 2005. Jerry Haworth serves as Chief Investment Officer, overseeing all portfolio decisions, while Richard Haworth functions as Chief Executive Officer, managing the firm's business operations (per Bloomberg, 2021). The firm remains controlled by the founding principals.

Yes. The firm launched the Kohinoor Core Plus Fund, which layers tactical short-volatility trades onto the long-volatility core, aiming to improve returns during low-volatility regimes. The original Core Fund remains the flagship vehicle and maintains the purest long-volatility mandate.

The firm deploys capital across equities, fixed income, currencies, and commodities, typically through listed options and over-the-counter volatility derivatives. The strategy is global in scope but concentrates on the most liquid exchange-traded and interbank markets, avoiding illiquid private instruments.

The firm's assets under management have fluctuated sharply with performance cycles, peaking above $1 billion after the 2008 financial crisis and again following the March 2020 volatility spike. AUM tends to contract during extended low-volatility periods, when the persistent negative carry on the Core Fund erodes capital (per Bloomberg, 2021). The firm does not publicly report current AUM.

36 South Capital Advisors operates as an independent asset manager, not a family office. The Haworth brothers founded the firm to manage external capital alongside their own, and it has always been structured as a hedge fund manager open to institutional and qualified individual investors.