Lansdowne

Lansdowne Partners is described as "one of Mayfair's largest and most successful hedge funds." It is 20 per cent owned by Morgan Stanley.

Controversies

Lansdowne attracted controversy after it emerged it had made an estimated £100m from the demise of failed UK bank Northern Rock through the 'short-selling' of its shares.

Partner and Conservative Party donor Paul Ruddock however disputed this, claiming that the actual amount was only a "small fraction" of the figure.

In 2013 it emerged that Lansdowne had benefited from investing around £50million in Royal Mail's privatisation, with the value of its shares rising by £18million after one day of trading alone. The Labour Party drew attention to fact that one of Lansdowne's top executives was a close friend of George Osborne. Both the Tories and Lansdowne denied any impropriety, saying Osborne was completely unaware of the share allocations.

People

• Paul Ruddock, co-founding partner. Ruddock is one of the most prominent supporters of the Conservative Party. Up to Feb 2009, he had contributed £260,000 to the party. His donation qualifies him for membership to David Cameron's 100-strong elite donors club, the Leader's Group. He previously worked for Goldman Sachs and Schroders. In 2012 he was awarded a knighthood. 'Sir Paul' denied that this was linked to his donation, but rather for his 'services to arts'.

• Peter Davies, Lansdowne's co-head of developed markets strategy and a member of the hedge fund's management committee. Davies is a close friend of UK Chancellor George Osborne; they met at Oxford University and he was best man at Osborne's wedding in 1998.

Lobbying

Lansdowne's lobbying firm in the UK is Tulchan Communications.

Funds

Its largest and best performing fund in 2008 was 'UK equities', run by Peter Davies.