Michael Hintze sells $20b firm to Canadian giant

afr.com:

London | Australian Financial Review Rich Lister Michael Hintze has sold most of his $20 billion managed funds company CQS to the Canadian giant Manulife Investment Management, and will strike out on his own.

$C845 billion ($955 billion) Manulife will snap up the London-based credit platform and brand, which specialises in bonds and other credit products, for an undisclosed sum.

Lord Hintze at his desk at CQS headquarters, where his favourite spot is the “situation” room.  Ian Tuttle

But Lord Hintze – he joined the House of Lords last year on ex-premier Boris Johnson’s nomination, for his philanthropy and his donations to the Conservative Party – will keep his flagship Directional Opportunities Fund.

According to a statement, this $US1.5 billion slice of CQS’s assets will form the basis of a new firm that Lord Hintze will set up, through which he will keep managing the Directional Opportunities Fund.

Lord Hintze is known as a hands-on manager: after appointing his first CEO at CQS in late 2018, he renamed himself “senior investment officer” and shifted his own desk into the middle of the firm’s trading floor.

His favourite spot in CQS’s London HQ is the “situation room”, an almost sci-fi-like hub where he and his staff can track worldwide news and data in real time.

Lord Hintze described himself as “delighted” at the Manulife deal – which leaves him free to focus, through the Directional Opportunities Fund, on his most favourite activities and strategies.

According to Bloomberg, Lord Hintze’s Directional Opportunities Fund gained 6.2 per cent in the year to September, and has delivered an annualised 10.8 per cent return over its 18-year existence.

The 70-year-old billionaire ranked 60th on this year’s Financial Review