Fund bosses at Pendragon pocket £8m
SENIOR managers at beleaguered hedge fund Pendragon Capital shared £8m last year before it was wound up and taken over by GLG Partners.
Five directors – including co-founders Julian Harvey Wood and Kaveh Sheibani – split the money, with the highest-paid member taking home £3m. The payout came after the event-driven hedge fund’s assets under management fell from $3bn (£1.8bn) in 2008 to just $400m in early 2009.
Accounts to April show Pendragon Capital’s turnover fell 74 per cent year-on-year and pre-tax profits dropped 78 per cent as the Mayfair-based boutique was hit by tough economic conditions. The numbers reflect a slide in Pendragon’s fortunes. At the height of the bull market a year earlier, seven managers had shared a remuneration pot of £33m with the highest-paid earning £12m.
Last January, Pendragon’s owners decided to hand control of the company to larger New York-listed hedge fund GLG, which assimilated the remaining assets. Harvey Wood and Sheibani joined GLG as part of the deal. The tie-up was seen as an example of consolidation in the hedge fund industry as big players mopped up weaker neighbours.
Harvey Wood and Sheibani are now on the verge of making a comeback with a new event-driven hedge fund run under the GLG brand, City A.M. can reveal. An industry source said the fund would take advantage of the resurgence in M&A activity and corporate restructuring.
The managers were unavailable for comment yesterday, but in a statement released at the time of the takeover GLG co-chief executive Emmanuel Roman described them as “highly experienced, event-driven professionals”.