LONDON (Reuters) – British hedge fund manager Crispin Odey said on Thursday he continued to bet on a global downturn despite an “awful” 2016 in which his main fund shed nearly half its assets. Odey – whose fund Odey Asset Management racked up losses of almost 50 percent last year – said the weak performance was in part down to Chinese efforts to shore up their economy, he told the Guernsey Funds Forum in London.