Alan Howard tops list that includes several friends of the Conservative party such as Alexander Knaster and Michael Platt
A secretive Tory party donor who made a fortune betting on the collapse of the Greek economy has been named the UK's wealthiest hedge fund manager.
Alan Howard, founder of Brevan Howard, has seen his personal fortune grow to £1.5bn, up from £1.4bn in 2012, to top the Sunday Times list of Britain's 25 richest hedge fund managers for the second year in a row.
Howard, the publicity-shy son of an engineer, is the 48th richest Briton, according to the list, and is friends with George Osborne. He is followed by fellow Tory donor Alexander Knaster, a Moscow-born US citizen who is based in London and heads Pamplona Capital Management, who has a personal fortune of £1.09bn.
Knaster, who gives discreet advice to rich Russians on where to put their money, is one of the Conservatives' most generous donors. He gave £100,000 to the party in 2011 and chipped in a further £50,000 for the Tory-led "no to AV" campaign that helped inflict a crushing defeat on plans for an alternative voting system.
Behind him is Michael Platt, founder of BlueCrest Capital, who has £950m in the bank, up from £650m. Platt, again a Tory donor, began dabbling in financial markets while in his teens and claims to have made thousands buying shares in privatised utilities. The Preston-born financier owns a Bombardier Challenger private jet and contemporary art including Paul Fryer's sculpture of a gorilla on a crucifix.
"In the last 10 years the hedge fund people [have been] making more impression in the list," said Philip Beresford, who compiles the Sunday Times Rich List. "They seem reasonably resilient in terms of preserving or increasing their wealth."
But London-based hedge fund managers were "relative paupers" compared with their counterparts on Wall Street, he added. Forbes magazine's list of the world's highest-earning hedge fund managers is topped by Carl Icahn, who made $20bn (£17.1bn) speculating on cars, gaming and energy, and legendary financier George Soros, who has amassed $19.2bn.
Spokespeople for Howard, Knaster and Platt declined to comment.
David Harding of Winton Capital, who recently said the rich must "pay their share" of taxes to be accepted by society, saw his wealth shrink to £700m from £800m.
The typical hedge fund manager is an Oxbridge-educated male in his late 30s to early 50s. Beresford said it appeared "a macho culture that attracts macho men".
The only woman on the list is Nichola Pease, who shares £450m with her husband, Crispin Odey, founder of Odey Asset Management. They are known as the "Posh and Becks" of the money markets. Pease, a scion of the family behind Barclays, was one of only six women in the 1000-strong intake on the graduate trainee scheme at investment bank Kleinwort Benson in 1983. But as a former non-executive director of Northern Rock, she has not escaped blame for failing to spot the bad lending that led to the first bank run in Britain in more than 150 years.
Her husband, a hunting and shooting aficionado, made a fortune predicting the boom for insurance companies after 9/11.
In 2010 Odey threatened to leave the UK over the 50% tax rate, but has chosen to remain close to his country estate in the Forest of Dean, where he is reported to be building a £120,000 Palladian chicken house.
"The much talked about and feared exodus to Geneva has not happened," said Beresford. "It is true Alan Howard is there, it is true Michael Platt is there. But there are precious few others who have left the delights of the city of London for the climes of Geneva."
A spokesperson for the Robin Hood tax campaign said the hedge-fund fortunes were further evidence that a tax on financial speculation was needed. "The fact a small cabal of speculators has clocked up such colossal wealth when the rest of the economy is struggling beggars belief."
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