Michael Hintze

Michael Hintze is an Australian businessman, philanthropist and political patron, based in the United Kingdom. He is a former head of equity trading at Goldman Sachs and the founder of CQS Management, a private London hedge fund.

Hintze is considered one of the highest paid people in the City and has donated more than £1 million to the UK Conservative Party. According to Forbes' Rich List, he is worth $1.1 billion though many consider this a conservative estimate.

Background and early life

Hintze's grandparents fled Russia for China after the 1917 Revolution but his parents became refugees after the Communists took power there.

Hintze was educated at the University of Sydney, the University of New South Wales and Harvard University. He holds degrees in Physics and Pure Mathematics and Electrical Engineering, an MSc in Acoustics and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

He started his career in the Australian Army, serving as a captain before moving to the US to work in finance.

Business career

including at Salomon Brothers in the 1980. He moved to London with Credit Suisse First Boston before becoming Head of Equity Trading at Goldman Sachs. In 1999 he launched his own hedge fund company, CQS.

Short selling

Hintze's hedge fund CQS took out a short position on Bradford & Bingley, which went on to lose 95% of its value and was on the brink of collapse before it was rescued in late 2008. Short-selling involves a trader borrowing shares for a fee and selling them in the hope that, if the share price falls, the trader can buy them back at a cheaper price and return them to the borrower, thereby making a profit. The practice was banned by the UK government in September 2008.

Politics

Donations to the Conservative Party

In 2006, at the time of the "Cash for Peerages" allegations concerning the Labour Party, Hintze voluntarily revealed he was one of the previously anonymous patrons who had made loans to the Conservative Party.

His total donations to the Tories were £1.3 million as of March 2011 according to the Electoral Commission register.

Dinner at Downing Street with the Camerons

• See Powerbase page on Downing Street Dinner Guest List

Liam Fox and Atlantic Bridge

Hintze donated at least to £29,000 to Liam Fox's former charity Atlantic Bridge.

In May 2011, Hintze's company paid an estimated £10,439 for a private jet to fly Fox from Washington to Britain.

Following Fox's resignation, it was reported that his incoming successor as Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond had mentioned Hintze in several entries in the Register of Members' Interests, including one for "£1,700 hospitality at Carlton Political Club Dinner".

Funding climate sceptics

According to the Guardian declined to fund a climate change project in a September 2011 email, in which he stated: "Furthermore we are supporting Nigel Lawson's initiative." This is taken to be a reference to Lawson's Global Warming Policy Foundation.

Philanthropy

Hintze and wife Dorothy have wide-ranging philanthropic interests, consolidated in the Hintze Family Charitable Foundation and support around 150 different causes. Among major donations, he has established the chair of International Security at the University of Sydney, enabled the restoration of Michelangelo’s frescoes in the Pauline Chapel at the Vatican and sponsored two major galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum. He has also provided funding for the Old Vic in London. He is a trustee of the National Gallery and of Wandsworth Museum.

He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 and is a known supporter of both Catholic and Anglican institutions.

Affiliations

Hintze currently serves as chairman of the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment, a trustee of the National Gallery, the Institute of Economic Affairs, the University of Sydney Trust and Wandsworth Museum. He also serves on the International Council of the V&A and is a Patron of the Arts of the Vatican Museums. In 2009 he was appointed vice-president of the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association.

Hintze founded the Hintze Family Charitable Foundation with his wife Dorothy.

Contact

Website: http://michael-hintze.com/

Resources

• Simon Bowers, Michael Hintze: Liam Fox backer who helped to bankroll foreign trips, guardian.co.uk, 11 October 2011.
• Sam Jones, James Blitz and Elizabeth Rigby, Tory donor’s links add pressure on Fox, FT.com, 13 October 2011.
• Rachel Oldroyd and Maeve McClenaghan, George Osborne receives almost twice the level of Hintze donations as Fox, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, 17 October 2011.