UK’s biggest 10 hedgies sit on £6.6bn fortune
THE combined personal fortunes of the UK’s top 10 hedge fund executives weighed in at £6.6bn last year, a study out yesterday revealed, with Brevan Howard co-founder Alan Howard the richest hedge fund executive in the country with £1.4bn of assets.
Data from Hedge Forensics, published in the inaugural Sunday Times Hedge Fund Rich List yesterday, shows Howard top of the wealth list, followed by David Harding from Winton Capital Management. Harding last month revealed his personal tax arrangements showing annual earnings of £87m and £34m paid in taxes.
Elsewhere on the Sunday Times list are other well known hedge fund stars, including Crispin Odey and his wife Nichola Pease with a fortune of £455m and art patron Michael Platt from Bluecrest Capital with £650m to his name.
The data reveals the growing importance of the industry, typically based out of small, discreet offices in Mayfair, to the big institutions in the Square Mile. It reveals 650 hedge funds in operation in the UK today, employing more than 8,000 people. With £250bn of assets under management, it accounts for some four per cent of the £5.12 trillion of total assets managed by UK managers.
The combined assets under management of the funds that house the top 10 executives total around $172bn (£107.3bn), and vary in size from Brevan Howard’s $38bn of client assets to the $6bn managed by Pamplona Capital Management, set up by Alexander Knaster, third on the list. But the UK still has some way to go before it can compete with the US hedge fund industry.
Howard was placed at number eight on a global list of the top hedge fund earners in 2011. Top in that poll was Bridgewater Associates’ boss Ray Dalio.