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Tiger Management – Best Seeding Platform

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Founded by hedge fund titan Julian Robertson in 1980, Tiger Management LLC became one of the most successful and lauded hedge funds. At its peak in 1998, Tiger Management was running USD22billion in assets.

In 2000, Robertson decided to take a step back and return money to external investors. Tiger Management LLC took the form that continues to this day, primarily as an investor and seeder of other hedge funds.

Gill Caffray re-joined Tiger Management LLC as chief investment officer in 2011. In addition to Caffray, Robertson’s son, Alex Robertson, became president and COO of Tiger Management LLC this January, succeeding John Townsend, who now serves as a senior adviser to Tiger.

Over the last decade, Robertson has backed a number of former employees who have gone on to create their own highly successful funds, thanks to the unique experience of having worked under Robertson. Affectionately referred to as “Tiger cubs”, these managers include such luminaries as Lee Ainslie (Maverick Capital), Andreas Halvorsen (Viking Global Investors), and Lone Pine’s Stephen Mandel.

In total, Robertson has backed approximately 40 hedge funds. These investments extend into private equity as well: Emil W. Henry Jr’s Tiger Infrastructure Partners was established in 2009, also with backing from Robertson.

One of Robertson’s most recent “Tiger cubs”, Chase Coleman’s Tiger Global Management LP, was the top performing hedge fund in 2011 according to Bloomberg’s 100 Top-Performing Large Hedge Funds report, released in February 2012.

Having created such a formidable hedge fund dynasty and backed so much talent, a couple of years ago Robertson decided to launch a new seeding fund – Tiger Accelerator Fund – to be managed by Tiger Management Advisors.

As reported by Reuters in April 2011, the Tiger Accelerator Fund launched with USD230million to back an initial portfolio of six managers that were seeded by Robertson. The fund reached its target of USD450million on the back of strong investor demand with investors clambering to get a stake in the six long/short equity managers and a share of the 8 per cent of general partner revenue in exchange for a two-year capital lock-up.

The managers selected for the seed portfolio include: Tiger Veda, Cacabel, Long Oar, Tiger Eye, Tiger Ratan and Teewinot. As the name of the fund suggests, these funds have been up and running for some time and have established track records. Each has benefited from receiving “acceleration capital”, which helps boost their total AuM, the aim being to help them reach a critical size more quickly and therefore appeal more to large institutional investors.

Asked what managers need to demonstrate to stick out from the crowd and be considered by Tiger Management LLC, Alex Robertson says: “Tiger Management looks for a well-thought-out business plan and vetted investment strategy.  Tiger Management seeks to identify talent and values high processing skills, emotional intelligence and competitive tenacity.”

On Tiger Management LLC winning the award for Best Seeding Platform, Robertson adds: “We appreciate Hedgeweek’s support and will continue to work hard to earn its respect and the respect of our peers in the investment business.”

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