Gartmore, the fund management house, has suffered a blow to its thriving hedge fund business after the departure of Jeremy Hale, its macro hedge fund manager, and the closure of his $12m (€10.4m) global fund.

The fund, which ran $20m at its height, had posted disappointing returns and was down 9.5% since inception in February 2002. Sources said the poor performance was making it difficult to attract investors to the fund.