Brazilian hedge-fund giant SPX Capital has issued an apology to investors in its Raptor fund – a more aggressive version of its flagship Nimitz – after a badly-timed domestic bet back-fired, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The fund lagged all 173 rivals tracked by Bloomberg over the first six months of the year, losing 9.7% after fees, with June proving to be particularly painful as Raptor posted its second-biggest monthly drop on record.

The report cites an investor letter written by SPX founding partner Rogerio Xavier, and seen by Bloomberg, as blaming wrong-way bets in Brazil as the main reason for the fund's poor performance.

“Our performance in the past nine months has been disappointing, to say the least,” Xavier wrote. "“We need to improve our understanding about Brazil.”