Back to Hedge Fund 100 Firm Profile Ranking

92. Corvex Management / $7 billion

Location:

New York, NY

Founded:

2010

2015 Hedge Fund 100 Rank:

No. 94

2015 Capital:

$7.3 billion

2014 Hedge Fund 100 Rank:

—

2014 Capital:

—

Years on List:

Address:

712 Fifth Avenue, 23rd floor
New York, NY 10019

Phone:

212-474-6700

Fax:

212-474-6715

Profile & News

Firm Overview

Keith Meister, founder of New York-based hedge fund Corvex Management, learned the trade of activist investing from the industry’s best. For seven years, Meister served as famed activist Carl Icahn’s right-hand man. He was vice chairman of the board of Icahn Enterprises, during which he spent several years as CEO and principal executive officer of the firm, and was also a senior managing director with hedge fund Icahn Capital, which closed in 2011. It’s no surprise then that Meister has piloted Corvex to success.

Founded in December 2010, Corvex managed some $2.1 billion by 2012 close and by the following year had launched nine activist campaigns. Corvex was up 12 percent in 2014, beating returns of competitors including Nelson Peltz’s Trian Partners, Daniel Loeb’s Third Point Offshore Fund and Barry Rothstein’s Jana Partners. Law firm and hedge fund specialist Schulte Roth identified Corvex Management as one of the top 10 activist hedge fund firms of 2014 based on the impact they made over that year.

Meister announced his latest position in May 2015 at the Ira Sohn Investment Conference in New York. He presented his long thesis on Yum! Brands, owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, which involved the spin off of its Chinese assets to unlock value. Third Point also took a stake in Yum! in the first quarter of 2015.

One of Corvex’s highest-profile activist campaigns came about through a partnership with real estate firm Related Fund Management in February 2013. The duo took on CommonWealth REIT and were successful in replacing the entire board of trustees with their director nominees. This was possible only after an arbitration panel ruled that CommonWealth’s bylaw provisions, which made it difficult for outsiders to run a consent solicitation, were illegal in mid-2013. CommonWealth admitted to overstating financial results for 2013 and tried to cover up the error, leading to an FBI and Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.

The New York-based hedge fund also partnered with fellow activist Eric Mandelblatt’s Soroban Capital Partners in late 2013 to take on energy giant Williams Cos. Mandelblatt was appointed to Williams’ board of directors the following February and Corvex and Soroban have agreed not to launch a proxy battle as long as he remains.

Meister qualified for Alpha’s Rich List second team for the first time in 2015, earning $110 million the year prior. He is part of Wall Street secret society Kappa Beta Phi. Patrick Dooley, a prominent lawyer at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld for 19 years, joined Corvex in January 2014 as general counsel. Dooley has advised several activist hedge funds, including Mick McGuire’s Marcato Capital Management.

STRATEGY

The fundamental, value-oriented firm takes an opportunistic approach to investing in equities, special situations and distressed securities. The firm also provides custom investment advice. The firm makes investment decisions based on a fundamental, event-driven process based on business, credit and market analysis, credit structure analysis and investment catalysts. Corvex invests across various asset classes, including long and short equities, bonds, options, credit default swaps, commodities and others. The firm may use leverage and may co-invest.

Past and current activist positions include insurance company Fidelity National Financial, Signet Jewelers, Crown Castle International Corp. and American Realty Capital Properties. Meister also pushed for telecommunications firms TW Telecom and Level 3 Communications to merge at the 2013 Ira Sohn Conference.

FUNDS OVERVIEW

The firm generally charges a 1.5 percent management fee based on net assets and a 20 percent performance fee based on net gains. Management fees are typically paid monthly in advance.

Corvex offers quarterly redemptions after a one-year soft lockup. Early redemptions face a 3 percent redemption fee with 60 days’ notice and a 25 percent gate.

A minimum initial investment in a fund managed by Corvex Management is $5 million.

Regulatory Assets Under Management (RAUM)*
Discretionary	$11.01 billion (in 3 accounts)
Nondiscretionary	$0 (in 0 accounts)
Total	$11.01 billion (in 3 accounts)

Employees	23
Clients	1–10 total	67 percent non-U.S.
Fiscal Year Ends	December
All data as of December 31, 2014. *Regulatory Assets Under Management (RAUM) includes no deduction of offsetting liabilities, thus representing gross AUM, not net AUM. RAUM calculations include leverage, proprietary assets and uncalled capital commitments, among other items not required in the calculation of AUM.

OWNERS AND EXECUTIVES

Name	Position	Position Held Since
Keith Meister	Founder, managing partner	12/2010
Michael Doniger	Special limited partner	12/2010
Nicholas Graziano	Senior managing director	12/2010
Rupal Doshi	COO	12/2010
Malcolm Levine	Senior managing director	01/2013
Patrick Dooley	Chief legal officer	01/2014
Sam Bezek	CCO	01/2015