RAB Special Situations, the largest of RAB Capital Plc's hedge funds, may buy back shares after they lost half their value this year.

The $1.5 bn fund, managed by RAB Chief Executive Officer Philip Richards, lost about 30 percent in net asset value in the first half of the year. Shares in the publicly listed fund have dropped even more, about 50 percent, creating a 37 percent discount to net asset value, RAB said in a Regulatory News Service statement today.

Due to the widening of the discount of the share price to net asset value during the period and more significantly from the period end to date, the board has held discussions regarding the use of its powers to repurchase ordinary shares and hold them as treasury shares and its powers to repurchase ordinary shares for cancellation, RAB said in the statement.