Sir Paul Marshall’s hedge fund Marshall Wace sees profits fall

Hedge fund Marshall Wace has reported a further drop in profits following a massive drop in performance fees.

The investment firm, co-founded by GB News patron Sir Paul Marshall, revealed its pre-tax profits plunged 64 per cent to £192m in the year to February 2024.

Revenue fell 38 per cent to £768.9 million, mainly due to performance fees, which investment managers earn for generating returns, falling by around £435 million to just £163 million.

Its Eureka and TOPS funds returned 4.6 percent and 7.7 percent, respectively, which is significantly below the double-digit levels typically achieved by hedge funds.

This is the second year in a row that Marshall Wace’s profits have fallen significantly after pre-tax profits fell by more than a quarter to £539 million in fiscal 2023.

The group’s latest profits will be split between its 24 partners, including Marshall and co-founder Ian Wace, with one anonymous member receiving a payout of £74 million.

Marshall and Wace founded their eponymous company in 1997, in part with the backing of prominent Hungarian financier George Soros.

It has now become one of the UK’s largest hedge funds with over $69 billion in assets, over 700 employees and offices in major cities such as London, New York and Abu Dhabi.

The expansion has been led by the development of a computer-driven trading strategy that analyzes stock recommendations from analysts and private equity giant KKR, which has a 35 percent stake in the business.

Mr. Pablo, 65 years old, whose son is former Mumford & Sons banjo player Winston, is president and chief investment officer of Marshall & Wace.

He has used the company’s financial success to become one of Britain’s most generous philanthropists.

The tycoon founded school academy provider ARK and has donated tens of millions to the London School of Economics, which houses the Marshall Institute for Philanthropy and Social Entrepreneurship.

Marshall is also building a media empire, backing news and opinion website UnHerd and television channel GB News.

It acquired The Spectator Magazine last year for £100m after an Abu Dhabi-backed bid to take over the right-wing publication along with the Daily Telegraph and the Sunday Telegraph failed.

Marshall, who was previously a supporter of the Liberal Democrat Party, later changed his affiliation to the Conservative Party and supported Brexit in the 2016 European Union membership referendum.