Even in an industry accustomed to billion dollar funds, a trio at Belpointe Asset Management had a profitable day.
Timothy C. Davidson, Brandon Lacoff and Greg Skidmore of the Greenwich, Conn., multi-family office were unveiled Monday as the winners of the $254 million Powerball jackpot. Though local reports described them generally as asset managers, a closer look reveals some more ties to alternative investing. Both Davidson and Skidmore wrote in their firm profiles that they have advised wealthy clients on hedge fund investments. The firm also advertises that it allocates to emerging hedge fund managers.
The firm, which manages $82 million in client assets, may even have plans to start its own hedge fund. Belpointe recently hired Hervé van Caloen to run the Mercator fund, described as a long/short international equity fund with plans to launch early next year. The fund is not registered, and Van Coloen’s office said he was traveling in Europe and not immediately available to comment.
Belpointe’s offices are located at 125 Greenwich Avenue, the same stretch where former hedge fund manager Daniel J. Barach has spent several days as a one-man “Occupy Greenwich” movement.
The bounty will not be an immediate boon for Belpointe. The winners said they would accept the jackpot as a $104 million lump sum payment to a separate holding company and donate a significant portion to charity. Since 2008, Belpointe has been a co-sponsor of the Greenwich Wiffle Ball Tournament, which was formed after local teenagers were evicted from a vacant lot in Riverside, Conn. that they had been using as a Wiffle ball field.