Irth Capital Management is raising capital for a new hedge fund designed to take a ‘constructivist’ approach to public and private equity investing, according to a report by Reuters citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
The strategy will see the firm act as a supportive but proactive shareholder, engaging with company management teams, recommending changes, and backing businesses through their strategic transformations and capital needs.
The effort will be spearheaded by Mack Abbot, who joins Irth in New York as Managing Director and Head of Constructivism. Abbot previously spent several years at activist hedge fund Starboard Value, where he led governance research and campaign strategy in contested situations, and before that was part of BlackRock’s Americas stewardship team.
Founded by Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulla Al Thani, a former Qatar Investment Authority executive, and Matthew Bradshaw, previously of Millennium Partners and Durational Capital Management, Irth is positioning the new vehicle as a differentiated play at the intersection of activism and private equity.
While the fund’s size has not been disclosed, sources said the target reflects the “strategic scale” needed for Irth’s intended portfolio. The firm’s only publicly disclosed investment to date is in Papa John’s, where it joined forces with Apollo Global Management in a potential take-private approach.
