Hamza Lemssouguer’s Arini Capital Management suffered a sharp setback in July, with its flagship hedge fund falling about 8% after several credit positions moved against the London-based manager, according to a report by Bloomberg citing unnamed people familiar with the results.
The losses came after Arini held debt linked to Aston Martin Lagonda, which secured a £550m ($750m) financing package with HPS Investment Partners last month to strengthen its liquidity.
The transaction effectively bypassed existing bondholders, including a creditor group led by Arini, sending the affected debt lower and weighing on the hedge fund’s performance.
Arini also suffered losses on equity tranches of credit-default swaps providing protection against losses on Virgin Media debt, the people said.
The July decline represents a significant reversal for Lemssouguer, one of Europe’s best-known distressed and special-situations credit investors. He has built his reputation on concentrated, high-conviction trades that can produce substantial gains when they work but equally sharp losses when markets move the other way.
A representative for Arini reportedly declined to comment.
Lemssouguer previously traded distressed corporate debt at Credit Suisse before leaving the Swiss bank in 2021. He established Arini the following year and rapidly turned the firm into a major participant in European distressed and restructuring markets.
The firm has generated about a 70% return since its launch, although performance weakened towards the end of last year, with the flagship fund recording losses during the final four months.
The latest setback comes after a relatively muted first half of 2026. Through June, the flagship fund had gained only 1.37% for the year, meaning the July loss erased much of that progress.
The result was particularly notable given the broader European leveraged-loan market was broadly flat during the month. European leveraged loans returned just 0.09% in July, their weakest monthly performance since March, according to Bloomberg data.
Not all of Arini’s strategies have struggled.
The firm’s master fund was up about 3.5% for August through Thursday, according to one person familiar with the results. Its Credit Opportunities Fund, which targets market dislocations and bespoke financing transactions, was up 12.5% for the year.
Arini has expanded rapidly since its launch and now manages about $21bn, backed by investors including Squarepoint Capital.
