How Greg Coffey Walked Away From A $250 million Bonus
How? One foot in front of the other.
But why? Especially since he forfeited a $250 million bonus?
Greg Coffey, one of the hedge fund industry’s top performers with a pay packet to match, looks set to start his own hedge fund firm when he leaves GLG Partners in October.
Coffey, who finally resigned last week—forfeiting a bonus reportedly worth around $250 million (125 million pounds)—after last-minute talks with GLG about his future, has delivered performance in his specialist area of emerging markets that many managers can only dream of.
“He’s regarded by colleagues and peers as one of the most successful managers in that space,” said one hedge fund executive, who asked not to be named because he had worked alongside Coffey in recent years.
The 37-year-old Australian, who joined GLG in 2003 from a hedge fund backed by industry legend George Soros and now runs more than $7 billion of the New York-listed company’s $24.6 billion of assets, won the Fund of the Year award at the EuroHedge Awards for 2007 for his GLG Emerging Markets fund. Reuters
Coffey does not have much left to prove, but running his own shop and calling the shots on compensation, market strategy, etc must be the only motivation. Money managers are a prickly bunch, and nothing is worse than taking marching orders from an inferior managers, and have positions second guessed.
Coffey probably did not have to deal with these sorts of issues, but it could have been an innocuous comment the lead him down this path. We might not ever know what made him leave, but the point is now moot, and he will set sail and skipper his own strategy.
Good Luck Greg, although it sounds like you won’t need it.
The struggling shares of GLG might, however, as they have been moribund since Coffey’s resignation was made public.
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Media-shy hedge fund star Coffey set for own firm
Reuters
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