Montreal, Canada

One of the true hedge fund greats has called it quits.

John Horseman, 51, who launched Horseman Capital in London nine years ago and who runs the Horseman Global Fund, has decided to resign after almost 30 years managing stock portfolios. During his tenure this decade Horseman has belted out more than 16% per annum while earning more than 30% in last year's global market meltdown when just about everyone else was mauled.

Since 2001, Horseman Global Fund earned a cumulative 274% compared to an 8% loss for the MSCI World Index.

Horseman turned net short on stocks in late 2007 – a prescient call that resulted in outsized gains almost every month for his investors until March 2009 when stocks bottomed.

The news came as a shock to his investors following his first calendar year loss in 2009 – down 24% because of his bearish views on global markets and banking.

I've been fortunate enough to meet John Horseman twice at his office in London since 2007. He's incredibly shrewd, bold and direct. He's probably one of the few money-managers in the world that truly understands what's unfolding in credit, the macro economy and how these and other variables affect the investment markets. I also appreciate and agree with his bearish outlook.

Horseman, who started his career at GAM, or Global Asset Management, in the early 1980s, ran the highly successful GAM International Fund for years. He earned more than 17% per annum at GAM picking global equities and was widely regarded as the best stock-picker at the group.

Horseman will remain on the board of the Horseman Global Fund and remains the largest shareholder of the company he founded. He will continue to advise the Fund but will resign from daily trading responsibilities effective January 1. A new manager with a strong emerging markets back-round, Russell Clark, will assume the helm of Horseman Global Fund.

Bearish views on the macro economy also claimed another star money-manager ten years ago.

Julian Robertson, Jr, who ran the successful Tiger Funds for almost 20 years and retired in 1999, also closed up shop because of his bearish investment position. Robertson, like Horseman, was also bearish in 1999 with big bets against technology stocks; that bull market railroaded Tiger and resulted in Robertson shutting down his funds just months before the NASDAQ peaked.

The Horseman Global Fund will remain net short for the rest of the calendar year and is expected to stay defensive under Clark.

Have a good weekend. See you on Monday.