Hedge Fund Intelligence Sir Michael Hintze interview

interview

Sir Michael Hintze on applying
rigour to hedge fund investing
and what drives the team at CQS
Barry cohen, special reports editor, hedgefund intelligence

S

ince launching CQS in 1999, Sir Michael
Hintze has become one of the most influential players in the London hedge fund
world, highly regarded for his intellectual
prowess and his trading acumen. Years of
steady growth and impressive returns, particularly
in the credit market, have boosted the firm’s assets
to $12 billion.
Having started off as a single-strategy business
with one hedge fund, CQS has evolved into a global
multi-asset manager with offices around the world.
Over the past 13 years, CQS and its various funds
have won eight EuroHedge awards – including Fund
of the Year in two out of the past three years for
its flagship CQS Directional Opportunities Fund,
which Hintze manages himself.
Despite a loss of assets during the crash of 2008,
CQS emerged from the crisis with its reputation
enhanced. Unlike many of his competitors, Hintze
took the key – and what he would regard as an
ethical – decision not to impose any gates, suspensions or side pockets on his funds. Moreover,
throughout the crisis of recent years, his funds have
continued to deliver impressive returns.
Hintze maintains a modest lifestyle, despite his
position as one of London’s most successful fin­
anciers, and prefers to spend his wealth on a host
of charitable and philanthropic causes. Having
donated more than £30 million through the Hintze
Charitable Foundation in recent years, he received a
knighthood in the 2013 Queen’s Birthday Honours
for services to the arts. Earlier this year, he was also
appointed a Member of the Order of Australia.

34 Global Review Autumn 2013

Sir Michael Hintze

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