Billionaire hedge fund boss Chris Hohn’s annual dividend has been slashed in half – but he still took home £275million.
The tycoon, who runs TCI Fund Management and once employed prime minister Rishi Sunak as an analyst, paid himself a record £550million in the year to February 2022.
But his pay for the following year halved as profits fell from £696million to £363million, say accounts filed at Companies house.
Nevertheless, the mammoth earnings, which have seen his fortune estimated at £5billion by the Sunday Times Rich List, underline his status as a top investor.
Hohn, 57, is one of Britain’s biggest philanthropists, donating millions of pounds a year. He was knighted by the Queen in 2014 for services to charity and international development.
Pay cut: Billionaire hedge fund boss Chris Hohn runs TCI Fund Management and once employed prime minister Rishi Sunak as an analyst
Its accounts show revenues at TCI fell 41 per cent last year to £557.5million due to ‘a decrease in management fees and performance fees’.
The fees fell ‘as a result of the negative investment performance of the funds the company provides investment management services to’.
The financial statements said: ‘Directors are aware of the challenging financial market conditions but remain optimistic about the future profitability.’
This year’s dividend was transferred to another firm controlled by Hohn before being reinvested in a fund.
The reclusive hedge fund manager, from Surrey, is the son of a Jamaican-born car mechanic who moved to Britain in the 1960s and a secretary from Sussex.
He graduated with a first in accounting and business economics from university in Southampton, then did an MBA at Harvard Business School.
Before setting up TCI in 2003, he worked for private equity group Apax Partners and Wall Street hedge fund Perry Capital.
The ultimate parent company of TCI is based in the Cayman Islands, a tax haven.
TCI gave £66.8million to charity in the year to the end of February compared with £20million the previous year.
It donated £41.3million to Hohn’s CH Foundation and £20.7million to his other charity The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, up from £1.2million.
In 2019, it emerged that he gave £200,000 to Extinction Rebellion through his charity and his own wealth, saying there was an ‘urgent need’ for people to wake up to climate change.
