Ospraie Management, the US hedge fund firm run by commodities trader Dwight Anderson and part owned by Lehman Brothers, is to shut down its flagship fund and return money to investors after the fund suffered heavy losses in August.

The Ospraie Fund, which was launched in February 2005, lost 26.7 per cent in August and was down 38.6 per cent over the year to date. It had about $2.8bn at the start of August.