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Brickwood Asset Management
Brickwood Asset Management was formed in 2015 by David Allen, who previously traded European equities at BlueCrest Capital.
Brickwood Asset Management
Brickwood Asset Management was formed in 2015 by David Allen, who previously traded European equities at BlueCrest Capital. The firm is domiciled in London and authorized by the Financial Conduct Authority. It operates as a traditional hedge fund manager with a single high-conviction strategy, rather than a family office, and sources its capital from institutional allocators, endowments, and European family offices. The founding team carried over relationships from the London and Geneva hedge-fund communities, which shaped the firm's early investor base. The firm runs a concentrated long/short equity book in European technology, targeting small- to mid-cap companies that sit below the market-cap floor of large multi-strategy funds. Positions are held across enterprise software, fintech, and digital infrastructure, with a bias toward businesses generating recurring revenue. Brickwood's research process layers forensic accounting review over on-the-ground channel checks, and the team has traded around a handful of German and Nordic mid-cap names since launch. The fund has also been short European legacy IT-services companies with structural revenue headwinds (per EuroHedge, 2021). Geographically, trading is concentrated in the UK, Germany, and the Nordics. Brickwood has remained deliberately lean: a single research pod supported by two senior analysts and a trader. The firm has not expanded into Asia or North America, and it has resisted launching UCITS or long-only vehicles. In March 2024, the FCA register confirmed Brickwood maintained its Part 4A permission to deal in investments as principal, a regulatory status it has held since inception (per FCA Register, 2024). The firm does not operate a philanthropic foundation or adjacent venture arm. The genuine structural difference is governance of the book during windows of elevated volatility. Unlike many European equity L/S managers that hedge at the index level, Brickwood overweights single-name tail-risk hedges and keeps net exposure on a tighter band than peers — rarely exceeding 40%. This posture emerged from the 2018 Q4 drawdown, where the fund held positive returns while the sector lost ground, and it has been formalized in the firm's investment guidelines ever since.
General information
Firm type
Asset Manager
Year founded
2015
AUM
$100M - $500M (Altss estimate)
Location
Region
Europe
Country
United Kingdom
City
London
Corporate office
London, United Kingdom
Principals
David Allen
Chief Investment Officer
Sector focus
Frequently asked questions
Who runs investment decisions at Brickwood Asset Management?
Investment decisions sit with David Allen, the founder and Chief Investment Officer, who traded European equities at BlueCrest Capital before launching the firm in 2015 (per Financial News, 2018). The research desk has included former SAC Capital traders, and all positions are run through a central risk book with Allen retaining final say on sizing and exits. A small investment committee reviews exposures weekly but does not override the CIO on individual name calls.
Does Brickwood run a single-manager hedge fund or a family office structure?
Brickwood is structured as a single-manager hedge fund, authorized by the FCA, and invests institutional capital — not family wealth. The firm runs one strategy (long/short European technology equities) and has purposely avoided multi-strategy or platform models. It is not a family office and does not manage separate accounts targeting private wealth.
What is Brickwood's typical net and gross exposure range?
The firm operates on a band that keeps net exposure below 40% in most market environments, with gross exposure typically between 100% and 150%. This discipline was formalized after the 2018 Q4 selloff, where Brickwood held positive returns while the European tech sector drew down. The book overweights single-name hedges rather than broad index protection, aiming to isolate stock-specific risk.
How does Brickwood source its equity ideas in European mid-caps?
The team relies on fundamental, bottom-up research augmented by channel checks in the UK, Germany, and the Nordics. They target companies with recurring revenue and thin sell-side coverage, which reduces crowding from multi-strategy funds. Short ideas frequently originate from forensic accounting review of European IT-services firms, where the team has identified structural revenue headwinds (per EuroHedge, 2021).
Has Brickwood launched UCITS or long-only funds?
No. Since launch in 2015, the firm has maintained a single-vehicle structure and has not expanded into UCITS, long-only, or private investment strategies. The manager has also not opened additional offices, operating solely from London with the same regulated permission under the FCA to deal in investments as principal (per FCA Register, 2024).
What sectors does Brickwood explicitly avoid?
Brickwood avoids European large-caps, biotech, and resource-extraction equities, as those sectors do not fit their research-intensive, low-coverage approach. The firm also stays away from crossover investing into private companies, keeping the entire book in liquid, publicly listed securities to align with the tight liquidity terms offered to institutional investors.
Which jurisdictions hold the majority of Brickwood's trading activity?
The book concentrates on the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Nordics, where the firm has local research contacts. France and the Benelux appear as secondary exposures, while Southern Europe has historically been underrepresented. North American and Asian equities are outside the mandate.
Profile maintained by Altss using OSINT (open-source intelligence), regulatory filings, licensed data partners, and verified direct submissions. Read the methodology. Last updated: . Continuous refresh with full update cycles at least every 30 days.
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