Crispin Odey, founder of Odey Asset Management, has expanded the geographical remit of the Odey European hedge fund, becoming the latest manager to look outside of Europe in search of investment opportunities as the region grapples with low growth and high levels of sovereign and bank debt.

In his latest letter to investors, in which he reports a 2.9% gain for the fund in March, Odey said that its investment objective has been amended to allow up to a maximum of 50% to be invested outside Europe, rather than the current 30%.