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 [1] 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. [2]
Contents
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. [3]
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. [4]
He started his career in the Australian Army, serving as a captain before moving to the US to work in finance.
Business career
Hintze began his career in finance with Salomon Brothers, completing the firm's graduate trainee programme in 1982. He worked at Goldman Sachs from 1984 to 1996 when he joined Credit Suisse.[5] In 1999, Hintze launched his hedge fund Convertible & Quantitative Strategies, or CQS, with a $200 million investment from Credit Suisse, whose then European head, Hector Sants worked closely with him.[6]
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.[7]
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.[8]
His total donations to the Tories were £1.3 million as of March 2011 according to the Electoral Commission register. [9]
Dinner at Downing Street with the Camerons
- See Powerbase page on Downing Street Dinner Guest List
Liam Fox and Atlantic Bridge
According to the Guardian, the accounts for former Defence Secretary Liam Fox's defunct charity Atlantic Bridge "show that £104,000 – or 58% of the charities voluntary income – had come from one source: the Hintze Family Foundation." The paper concluded that if Adam Werritty drew a salary as Executive Director of the Atlantic bridge, the money would in practice be largely coming from Hintze.[6]
From March 2010, Hintze aide Oliver Hylton was a director of Security Futures which had donated £15,000 to Atlantic Bridge the previous year.[6]
In May 2011, Hintze's company paid an estimated £10,439 for a private jet to fly Fox from Washington to Britain.[3]
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".[10]
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.[11]
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.[12]
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. [13]
Views
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.[3]
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.
Notes
- ↑ Robert Lea, "Hedge fund boss with a '£60m pay packet'", Evening Standard 14 October 2005
- ↑ ref needed
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Tom Ross and Holly Watt, Michael Hintze: the millionaire Tory donor who once said: the more you give, the more you get, Telegraph, 12 October 2011.
- ↑ Michael Hintze, Programme Speaker, LSEsu and FMG Alternative Investments Conference 2009
- ↑ CQS Insights, CQS, January 2012, accessed 30 August 2012.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Simon Bowers, Michael Hintze: Liam Fox backer who helped to bankroll foreign trips, guardian.co.uk, 11 October 2011.
- ↑ Maire Woolf and David Leppard, Short-sellers bankroll Conservatives: Hedge-fund bosses accused of profiting from the financial crisis have given the Tories a small fortune, 2008, accessed 16 March 2011
- ↑ Iain Dale'S Diary: Exclusive: Loan Tory Chooses This Blog To Go Public
- ↑ Electoral Commission, [link],
- ↑ Kim Sengupta, Hammond linked to millionaire backer behind Fox's charity, The Independent, 17 October 2011.
- ↑ Graham Readfearn, Leo Hickman and Rupert Neate, Michael Hintze revealed as funder of Lord Lawson's climate thinktank, guardian.co.uk, 27 March 2012.
- ↑ michael-hintze.com, accessed 30 August 2012.
- ↑ [1]
