Hedge fund’s stars net fortune


GLG PARTNERS, the London-based hedge fund that floated in America last week, is giving 16 of its top traders an 11% stake worth $400m (Ј200m) in the new company, landing them with paper fortunes worth $25m each.

In addition, GLG’s elite will receive a windfall of $150m between them in one of the richest pay deals seen recently. GLG, one of Europe’s biggest hedge funds with $20 billion of assets under management, listed in America with a market capitalisa-tion of $3.5 billion.

The lucky few include Prince Kyril Saxe-Coburg of Bulgaria, GLG’s client relationship manager, Greg Coffey, the emerging-markets specialist, Robert Don-ald, the award-winning European strategist, and Steve Roth, head of GLG Market Neutral Fund and GLG Credit Fund � the funds formerly run by Philippe Jabre, the star trader at the centre of last year’s Financial Services Authority investigation into the fund.

The paper fortune has been awarded to retain the top talents and has been structured by the creation of a new limited-liability partnership. Each of the 16 traders has agreed to reinvest 50% of the cash back into GLG funds.A further 10m shares has been kept back by the principle owners of GLG to reward other staff.

Noam Gottesman, GLG’s chief executive, said: “Everyone in the business will benefit, including the receptionists.”