What's in a name: Starwood Capital

Volatile markets, demanding investors and the frustrating inability to shake the label of financial industry ‘bad guy’; it’s fair to say that hedge fund managers don’t have the most relaxing of jobs. Even those rare moments of downtime are flecked with work-related blackberry messages, compliance calls and the need to brainstorm with peers.   

It was probably on a rare night off back in 1991, then, that fund managers Barry Sternlicht and Dan Stern stopped at a friend’s house in Aspen, and climbed into the hot tub – an act that proved to be a moment of inspiration for the pair who decided then and there then that Starwood, the name of their friend’s property, would be a perfect name for their new joint enterprise.

Such tranquil times must now seem like a very distant memory for the pair, who are said to be striving to escape from the luxury hotel sector, while the debt of the firm’s Louvre Group subsidiary now stands at over $2bn, according to reports.

Starwood Capital has total assets under management (AuM) of $25bn with offices in six regions:…

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My life in hedge funds: Andrew Rubio

Andrew Rubio, CEO, Throgmorton

CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR CURRENT ROLE?
I’m one of the directors and CEO of Throgmorton, a financial and administrative outsourcing firm serving the UK SME financial services sector. We look after the UK manager rather than the fund itself. I am responsible for business development, ongoing client relationship management and strategic planning.
 
WHAT DO YOU MOST LIKE ABOUT WORKING IN THE HEDGE FUND SECTOR?
It’s the people side that I really love. The characters that you meet throughout the industry: the depth of their knowledge, their intelligence and their vibrancy.  I also love the fact that you are constantly being challenged intellectually.

WHAT KEEPS YOU AWAKE AT NIGHT?
The constant change that’s occurring in the industry at the moment and how that’s going to affect our clients and our business. On the positive side, there may be opportunities that haven’t been considered at the moment.
But that’s the thing – what is it all going to mean?

WHO DO YOU ADMIRE MOST IN THIS INDUSTRY?
Those hedge fund managers and their teams who perform day-in-day-out and do not lose…

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Don’t give up the day job

Opening a restaurant, patenting a ground-breaking invention, finally finishing that novel – no matter how much we may love our day jobs, there are few people that haven’t, at one time or another, yearned for something more.

Hedge fund managers, despite their busy diaries, are no exception – as demonstrated by Harbinger Capital founder Philip Falcone, who is currently embarking on a new side venture: the construction of a high-speed wireless network.
This is far from his first extra-curricular project, however. The hedge fund manager, an avid hockey fan who allegedly names his conference rooms after NHL teams, also owns a minority stake in hockey team Minnesota Wild.

And he’s not the only top manager to have ventured beyond the world of vanilla deals, or just investing for investing sakes. Some punts definitely have a more emotional pull...

David Tepper, Appaloosa Management
Bought a controlling stake in American football team the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2009, and despite an undoubtedly hectic schedule, reportedly never misses a home game.

Paul Tudor Jones, Tudor Investment Corporation
Purchased 350,000 acres of Tanzania land in 2003 and…

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What's in a name? Appaloosa Management

Rare is the hedge fund manager happy to blend into the crowd – when it comes to returns at least.

And in the wake of the financial crisis, one firm that had more than its fair share of headlines was New Jersey hedge fund Appaloosa Management – named after a unique breed of horse known for its distinctive colouring – which reportedly generated over 120% returns over the course of 2009.

Launched in 1993 by former Goldman Sachs trader David Tepper, along with a number of his Goldman colleagues, Appaloosa is said to have been delivering average returns of 30% returns a year by the end of 2008, tripling its assets under management in just three years to $12bn.

Tepper himself also raised a few eyebrows when it was revealed last year that he was to enjoy a rather eye-watering $2.5bn pay package – around a third of the firm’s 2009 profits.  

This year, however, he may well have yearned for a bit more anonymity, as the firm faced an SEC probe over an alleged violation of regulations which aim to…

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