One year ago
»» Hedge fund managers scored big on the ice and field. Jeff Vinik of Vinik Asset Management purchased the Tampa Bay Lightening of the National Hockey League for an estimated $170 million. A year earlier, David Tepper, who topped AR’s Rich List in 2009, bought a minority stake in his hometown Pittsburgh Steelers.
John Henry, founder of J.W. Henry & Co. and the owner of the Red Sox, continued to diversify his sports portfolio—he purchased Liverpool Football Club for $476 million in November 2010. See which other managers have invested in their love of sports.
Five years ago
»» HBK Capital Management was soaring high. Its stake in Adolor, a microcap drug developer, was a big winner, with HBK’s investment rising from $30.1 million to $73.4 million in March 2006. In January 2006, HBK managed $8.8 billion and by July 2006 the firm had $10 billion.
After reaching peak assets of $14 billion in July 2007, HBK was hit hard at the end of the year due to CDO losses and market turmoil. By July 2010, assets plummeted to $4.8 billion. However, HBK is on the rebound. The firm is nearly finished paying out redemption requests dating back to 2007, and raised $940 million in February 2011. As of January 2011, the HBK managed $5.13 billion.
»» Philippe Jabre and his former firm GLG Partners were fined by the U.K.’s Financial Services Authority. The ruling found Jabre, a convertible arbitrage trader at GLG, liable for market abuse and breaching FSA principals, and GLG Partners liable for failing to adequately supervise him. Jabre paid a £750,000 fine, which was at that time the largest fine the FSA had issued against an individual (a dubious honor since earned by a trio of Turkish oil company executives). He left Geneva to launch Jabre Capital Partners.
Jabre Capital Management now oversees five funds and has $5.5 billion under management (see The redemption of Philippe Jabre). He’s had a tough time recently, having lost $300 million on a mistimed bet that Japanese stocks would rally soon after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that ravaged Japan. After the earthquake, Jabre loaded up on Japanese stocks, only to get hit with losses as the Nikkei Stock Average plummeted 13%. He quickly sold his shares just before a recovery.
