Hedge Fund Odey Snaps Up More Barclays Shares

Seeing an opportunity in a crisis, a hedge fund manager buys up shares of troubled Barclays, calling it 'the cheapest bank in the world.'

LONDON - Crispin Odey, one of Europe's best-known hedge fund managers, has spotted an opportunity in shares in Barclays amidst the growing scandal over interest rate rigging.

UK Regulators warned Barcap over their aggressive culture.

Odey, who is founding partner at Odey Asset Management and who already owns 60 million pounds' worth of shares in the bank, told Reuters on Wednesday that he had bought another 10 million pounds' worth of shares in Barclays at around 160 pence on Tuesday.

"It's the cheapest bank in the world," said Odey, who made millions in 2009 after buying into Barclays, whose shares rocketed 150 percent from the start of the year to end-August that year.

On Wednesday former Barclays CEO Bob Diamond apologized for the "reprehensible" behavior of his traders who fixed interest rates but told British MPs his bank had been unfairly singled out after coming forward to admit wrongdoing.

London-based Odey Asset Management runs around $6.9 billion in assets.

(Reporting by Laurence Fletcher; editing by Simon Jessop.)