Chris Rokos

Chris Rokos (Christopher Charles Rokos, born 21 September 1970) is a Financier and philanthropist.

Rokos was one of the founding partners of Brevan Howard Asset Management, Europe's largest hedge fund^[2] and the world's largest macro hedge fund.^[3] He retired from Brevan Howard in 2012 and formed a London-based family office.^[4] In 2014, he announced his desire to re-enter hedge fund management, and filed a suit in the Royal Court of Jersey against Brevan Howard contesting the five-year noncompete restrictions which would have prevented him from managing outside capital until at least 2018.^[5][6] In January 2015 the case was settled out of court, clearing the way for Rokos to start his own hedge fund, with Brevan Howard's backing.^[7]

Early life

Chris Rokos is an Old Etonian. He holds a BA and MA in Mathematics from the University of Oxford ('89).^[8]

Career

Rokos first made his name as a swaps trader at Goldman Sachs, then as a director at Credit Suisse – where Alan Howard worked – before co-founding Brevan Howard in 2002, along with James Vernon, Jean-Philippe Blochet, and Trifon Natsis, all from CSFB's proprietary fixed-income trading desk.^[9] The company name was created by using the first letters of the last names of the co-founders, with Rokos giving Brevan its "R".^[10]

Rokos was marketed as the firm's "star trader" and generated $4 billion in profits for Brevan's main fund,^[11] including $1.11 billion in 2007, equivalent to 27% of the fund's total profits that year, as well as $549 million in 2008 and $933 million in 2009. His best year for the Brevan Howard Master Fund came in 2011, when he made $1.27 billion, according to documents filed in the court case.^[12][13] In 2012 he was responsible for a $383 million loss before leaving the firm.^[14] Court documents also revealed that Rokos personally earned about $900 million during his time at Brevan Howard,^[15] a figure dwarfing previous estimates of his net worth.^[16]

After resolving his high-profile dispute^[17] with Alan Howard over a 5-year noncompete agreement, Chris Rokos is expected to establish his own firm in 2015^[18] in one of the "most anticipated hedge-fund launches of recent years", according to the Wall Street Journal.^[19]

Political affiliations

Chris Rokos is a major donor of the Conservative Party,^[20] having donated over £1 million to the Tories.^[21] He is a member of David Cameron's elite Dining club, the Leader's Group.^[22]

Social Contributions

Chris Rokos has made a number of charitable donations including to Amnesty International,^[23] WaterAid,^[24] UNICEF,^[25] and the Institute of Cancer Research, where he funds a five-year fellowship in Evolution and Cancer.^[26] In 2010 the Financial Times alleged him to be the anonymous collector who saved Domenichino's Saint John the Evangelist from export to the United States after British galleries were unable to raise enough money to buy it,^[27][28] the National Gallery and National Galleries of Scotland already being committed to an expensive deal to buy Titian's Diana and Actaeon and Diana and Callisto (coincidentally, also with contributions from Rokos).^[29][30]

His former Oxford University college, Pembroke, named the Rokos Quad after him when he gave the lead gift to a campaign which funded the new buildings complex that now surrounds the quad.^[31] Rokos has also established the Oxford-Rokos Graduate Scholarship, which is 40% funded by the University and 60% funded by himself, and covers the entire cost of living and fees for the full duration of a student's course.^[32]

In 2009 he contributed £500,000 towards social housing in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea^[33] in return for a planning permission to overhaul a run-down Notting Hill hotel, which he bought for £18 million, into a private mansion.^[34]

Rokos is a supporter of think tank Chatham House.^[35]

Personal life

Described by the Telegraph as "a highly secretive man of whom there is no published photograph",^[36] Chris Rokos is reputed to be extremely private. Nothing is known of his personal life.

References