Albourne Partners
Private | |
Industry | Financial services |
---|---|
Founded | March 7, 1994 |
Founders |
|
Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
Key people | Simon Ruddick (Chairman) John Claisse (CEO) |
Products | |
Total assets | US$700 billion (under advisement ) (2023) |
Number of employees | ~600 (2023) |
Website | albourne |
Footnotes / references [1] |
Albourne Partners (Albourne) is a British alternative investment advisory firm headquartered in London. The company provides alternative investment solutions to institutional investors.
Albourne has addition offices in Europe, North America and Asia.
Background
Business overview
Simon Ruddick was a
Albourne has a
Unlike its peers which only focused on open funds that clients could put money into, Albourne researched funds that were already hard-closed or raising assets. This helped in the 2007–2008 financial crisis where all funds opened and Albourne could allocate money to funds that were previously closed to investors.[3]
Albourne has been a vocal component of hedge fund regulation. It has called for hedge funds to have proper governance with regards to its board of directors, have proper details in their prospectus instead of using boilerplate text and to provide performance targets in standard format. Albourne has also stated common hedge fund structures had bad practices which included arbitrary powers to force investors out of a fund or suspend withdrawals, and the ability to give secret fee discounts to investors. When the Standards Board for Alternative Investments was being set up, Albourne wrote to the group stating that additional standards were needed to mitigate risk.[2][3] In autumn 2010, Albourne became a core supporter of the Standards Board for Alternative Investments.[6]
In 2015, Ruddick who had served as the firm's CEO stepped back from his position and was succeeded by John Claisse. Ruddick would remain as the chairman of Albourne's board of directors.[5]
In October 2016, Albourne called for an overhaul of hedge fund fees and stated it would announce a plan to help investors determine appropriate fees. Ruddick has stated fee negations often take place between an investor and a fund behind closed doors making the process opaque. As a result, Albourne was in favour of a plan in which incentive fees are charged when the returns have exceeded the minimum hurdle rates based on benchmarks.[7]
In April 2019, Albourne made it mandatory for hedge funds to answer questions on
Notable cases
In February 1998, Albourne released a report to stating it was heavily
In late 1998, Albourne released a report stating that investors should avoid
In February 2014, Albourne released a report downgrading BlueCrest Capital Management stating it had not provided sufficient information on its proprietary trading fund, BlueCrest Staff Managed Account (BSMA) would could have conflict of interest issues. In December 2020, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced that BlueCrest had agreed to pay $170 million to settle charges arising from inadequate disclosures, material misstatements, and misleading omissions concerning its transfer of top traders from its flagship client fund, BlueCrest Capital International (BCI) to BSMA and replacement of those traders with an underperforming algorithm.[9][10]
Royal endorsement
Alberene was a recipient of the Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade 2006.[11] It also won the award in 2009.[12]
Event hosting
Albourne hosted the networking event Hedgestock on 7–8 June 2006 at Knebworth House in Hertfordshire. The name was a play on the name Woodstock, a music festival. At the time it was the largest networking event for the hedge fund community with over 4,000 attendees from various related industries. The entrance fee was £500 per person. The Who were noted to have played at Hedgestock for two hours.[13] Alborune also hosted other conferences such as Escape to Alphatraz in 2008 which took place at Alcatraz Island and Hedgegate in 2010 which took place in Washington on the same day as the 2010 United States elections.[2][4]
Albourne Village
In late 2000s, Albourne launched the website, Albourne Village which describes the village where the firm was originally based at and got its name from. Albourne had a launch party for the website on the banks of the River Thames with The Wurzels performing for guests.[2][4][14]
Albourne Village is a
Lawsuits
In January 2010, Aksia sued two former employees for $40 million. Aksia claimed the two took confidential and proprietary information from it to the new firm they were joining, Albourne. It also claimed they contacted Aksia clients and told them to move their business to Albourne. In March 2010, Aksia amended the lawsuit to increase the scope to include Alborune and its executives . In June 2010, Aksia and Albourne agreed to a settlement one day before the trial began.[15][16]
References
- ^ "ALBOURNE PARTNERS LIMITED overview - Find and update company information - GOV.UK". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk.
- ^ a b c d e f Williamson, Christine (3 October 2011). "Albourne's Simon Ruddick discusses firm's humble origins". Pensions & Investments.
- ^ a b c d e Waineright, Will (2019). "EuroHedge 20th anniversary edition" (PDF). Dechert.
- ^ a b c d e f Agnew, Harriet (3 April 2012). "Lack of conflict and clear fees make Albourne a hit". Financial News London.
- ^ a b "Albourne CEO to Step Aside | Chief Investment Officer". www.ai-cio.com. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ "Annual Report 2018". SBAI. 2018.
- ^ Hu, Bei (17 October 2016). "Albourne Takes Aim at Hedge Fund Fees as 'Elephant in the Room'". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ Hu, Bei (16 April 2019). "Hedge Funds Ponder the Ethics of Shorting Unethical Companies". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ Kishan, Saijel (27 February 2014). "BlueCrest Internal Fund May Pose Pay Conflict, Albourne Says". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ Michaels, Dave (8 December 2020). "BlueCrest Capital Management to Pay $170 Million to Settle SEC Claims". Wall Street Journal.
- ^ Williamson, Christine (16 October 2006). "Albourne Partners gets royal endorsement". Pension & Investments.
- ^ "The Queen's Awards for Enterprise 2009" (PDF). The London Gazette. 20 April 2009.
- ^ Khalaf, Roula (8 June 2006). "Turn on, tune in, leverage up". www.ft.com. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ a b Saacks, Bradley (18 April 2020). "Albourne Village — a quirky online hedge fund community — is getting ready for a revamp. We took a look at the 20-year history of a site that lists billionaire founding fathers like Izzy Englander". Business Insider. Retrieved 3 February 2024.
- ^ Williamson, Christine (19 April 2010). "Hedge fund consultants face off". Pensions & Investments.
- ^ Williamson, Christine (1 June 2010). "Aksia, Albourne settle trade-secrets suit". Pensions & Investments.
External links
- Official website
- www.village.albourne.com (Albourne Village)