Fink bows out of Man on high note
Stanley Fink is retiring after 21 years with Man Group, the company he helped turn into the world’s biggest listed hedge fund manager.
Fink, who is deputy chairman, will leave at the annual meeting on July 10 on a high note.
Man defied investment sector gloom with forecast-beating profits. They rose 60 per cent to $2billion (£1.1billion) for the year to March, and the shares rose 30dp to 619p.
Fink, 50, was chief executive of Man for seven years and drove the company’s rapid expansion. He stepped back in 2007 to become deputy chairman, handing over to Peter Clarke.
He said: “I have many commercial and philanthropic interests outside Man Group to which I am increasingly committed, and I am eager to pursue these, and other opportunities, more fully.”
Fink is chairman of the Evelina Children’s Hospital Appeal, which is raising funds to equip a new children’s hospital in London. He is a trustee of Absolute Return for Kids (Ark), an organisation backed by hedge fund groups, and raises money for Burlington Danes city academy in west London.
Man Group chairman Jon Aisbitt said Fink had created tremendous value for shareholders, adding that his pioneering passion for alternative assets had been at the heart of Man’s growth.
This continued last year, with funds under management rising 21 per cent to $75.6billion.
Clarke said a key role was played by the company’s AHL futures business, which had no exposure to stock markets.
“Diversification is one of the keys to surviving in these markets,” he added.
He said Man attracted investors by carrying low levels of debt compared with other hedge funds. Asset managers are concerned about debt in other funds while the credit crunch continues.
Asia Pacific and the Middle East also helped.
“We have a long-established base in those parts of the world where wealth is currently being accumulated,” said Clarke.