Chris Hohn’s quest for eternal greatness

{"text":[[{"start":3.5,"text":"One mammoth IPO to start: Elon Musk’s SpaceX filed its much-anticipated prospectus late on Wednesday, giving investors a glimpse into the rocket maker’s financials ahead of the largest initial public offering in history. Here are the most important things to know. "}],[{"start":18.8,"text":"And another IPO: OpenAI is preparing to file for a public listing as early as this week, with the AI lab aiming for a blockbuster IPO as soon as September. The company has been laying the groundwork for an offering expected to value it at north of $1tn, according to people familiar with the matter."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":38.05,"text":"In today’s newsletter:"}],[{"start":39.699999999999996,"text":"Chris Hohn transcends"}],[{"start":42.65,"text":"Marc Rowan’s extracurriculars"}],[{"start":44.9,"text":"Hg ‘tidies up’ Visma"}],[{"start":47.85,"text":"What Chris Hohn knows"}],[{"start":50.1,"text":"Billionaire Chris Hohn has intense convictions on stock picking, activist campaigns, philanthropic causes. Lately, he has added another pastime: faith."}],[{"start":60.650000000000006,"text":"“God is not a man in the sky with a white beard,” he recited softly to the FT’s Costas Mourselas. “Close your eyes, and in the darkness you can know God and God is consciousness.”"}],[{"start":72.55000000000001,"text":"Today’s Big Read takes an expansive look at the billionaire investor and his hedge fund, The Children’s Investment Fund (TCI), as Hohn has arguably become Britain’s closest proxy to Warren Buffett."}],[{"start":85.10000000000001,"text":"The FT spoke with Hohn in London over several days, and the famed stockpicker laid out his views on everything from his management style to reincarnation."}],[{"start":95.4,"text":"Hohn is by no means your average financier. Most investors prioritise earthly matters over the business of the soul, yet Hohn argued that “humanity is on the wrong path” and the world’s “state of consciousness” needs to be corrected."}],[{"start":111,"text":"The London-based investor is running the fifth most profitable hedge fund of all time while simultaneously ploughing tens of millions of dollars into getting what he says is the UK’s only charity dedicated to spiritual education off the ground."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":126.75,"text":"Hohn’s ironclad convictions appear to mortals as practically a sixth sense. He has a sort of mysticism. When he turns on a stock — as he did in recent months with Microsoft — he will drop it entirely, even if he owned a huge sum for many years."}],[{"start":143,"text":"He also doesn’t shirk from running an intensely concentrated portfolio. He manages about $77bn in only 15 positions globally, building his record of success on a series of colossal bets. "}],[{"start":157.3,"text":"The largest investment in his fund, a roughly $14bn position in jet engine manufacturer GE Aerospace, is down about 7 per cent this year as the Iran war hits the global airline industry. The fund is down 4.3 per cent to the end of April, the worst start of the year since 2022."}],[{"start":176.8,"text":"That certitude extends from finance to faith. When asked about the spiritual beliefs that inspire him, Hohn corrects the premise. He “knows”, he says, rather than believes."}],[{"start":188,"text":"Yet his beliefs are increasingly being tested. The recent pace of advances in AI has crashed against his portfolio without much mercy, challenging his biggest holdings. "}],[{"start":198.25,"text":"Should anyone be that concentrated?"}],[{"start":201.75,"text":"“The most famous concentrated investor is Warren Buffett,” he said. “Anyone who knows his work knows he spoke frequently on concentrated investing. No one questions his genius.”"}],[{"start":212.85,"text":"Pensioners scrutinise Marc Rowan’s political activity "}],[{"start":217.1,"text":"Marc Rowan is a busy man. "}],[{"start":219.2,"text":"He’s the chief executive of Apollo Global Management, a private markets behemoth that manages more than $1tn.  "}],[{"start":227.39999999999998,"text":"He sits on the executive board of President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” and on a subgroup called the Gaza Executive Board, which focuses on what happens to Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war. "}],[{"start":239.45,"text":"And he’s taken an active role in the political debate about the dialogue on US university campuses. "}],[{"start":246.54999999999998,"text":"Rowan wrote a daily email from his Apollo account to dozens of members of the University of Pennsylvania’s board of trustees for several weeks questioning the school’s governance after the October 7 2023 attack in Israel, according to people who received the messages."}],[{"start":263.25,"text":"He helped push for the resignation of Elizabeth Magill, the university’s president, who hesitated when asked in a congressional hearing whether calls for a genocide of Jews were considered harassment under the university’s code of conduct. "}],[{"start":276.5,"text":"He’s been actively promoting the Trump administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”, which offered federal funding to universities that agreed to adopt a series of conservative policies on admissions and pedagogy."}],[{"start":289.85,"text":"Now, unions — whose members invest in Apollo funds through their pensions — are raising concerns about Rowan’s extracurricular activity. In particular they are complaining about what they say is his improper use of company time and resources, including Apollo staff."}],[{"start":306.3,"text":"In a letter to the head of Apollo’s audit committee, the American Federation of Teachers and the American Association of University Professors asked whether the board had given Rowan permission to use Apollo resources for his “campaign” in the higher education sector."}],[{"start":322.2,"text":"Apollo’s rules require staff to make clear that their views are their own when getting involved in personal and civic affairs, they said, and Rowan does not appear to do this when using his work email account for those activities."}],[{"start":335.3,"text":"For his part, Rowan is defiant. “I stood up against an onslaught of hate and antisemitism, as did thousands of others,” he said in a statement to the FT. "}],[{"start":344.55,"text":"“I find it troubling that people lose focus on what happened, what is still happening, and instead try to silence those of us speaking out. We will keep fighting hate in every form.”"}],[{"start":356.2,"text":"Signs of life in software dealmaking"}],[{"start":359.25,"text":"After the global sell-off in software stocks earlier this year brought private equity dealmaking in the sector largely to a halt, movement at any landmark software investment is noteworthy."}],[{"start":370.55,"text":"DD’s Alexandra Heal reports that British buyout group Hg has spun out roughly 30 companies worth about €500mn from its €19bn accounting software business Visma, as the Norwegian company’s blockbuster London listing lies shelved."}],[{"start":386.95,"text":"The companies were shifted into a new Luxembourg vehicle called Norvato, according to a Visma filing and people familiar with the matter."}],[{"start":394.45,"text":"The spinout was seen as a tidying-up exercise ahead of the IPO, planned before Hg called off the long-awaited listing amid uncertainty around the impact of AI on software companies."}],[{"start":407.2,"text":"The move signals that Hg is still gearing up for an exit from some of its holdings in Visma. Exactly what that will look like remains unclear."}],[{"start":415.3,"text":"A Visma IPO is not expected this year. Some of Hg’s backers and competitors believe it will be possible once the market starts to differentiate more between different types of software businesses. "}],[{"start":427.25,"text":"Others believe AI technology is moving so fast, and public markets are so wobbly on the sector, that listings are going to be difficult for a long time. "}],[{"start":437,"text":"One person close to Hg recently told the FT that it could embark on another private recapitalisation of Visma, after many previous processes where the firm cashed out its older funds by selling Visma equity to its newer funds and external investors. "}],[{"start":454.1,"text":"Visma aside, Hg is a market maker in the European software space and competitors are keenly watching it for signs of new dealmaking activity. That, as one private equity adviser told DD, could give others the green light to proceed."}],[{"start":468.8,"text":"Job moves"}],[{"start":470.3,"text":"Jefferies has hired Gideon Volschenk as a managing director in industrials investment banking. He joins from Standard Chartered."}],[{"start":478.85,"text":"Rothschild & Co has hired Lucy Baldwin as global head of equities. She joins from Citi."}],[{"start":485.20000000000005,"text":"Simpson Thacher has hired Marten Olsson as a partner in banking and credit. He joins from Kirkland & Ellis."}],[{"start":493.35,"text":"Smart reads"}],[{"start":495,"text":"AI ecosystem The world’s most valuable public company is an investor, customer and supplier in the AI economy, the FT writes. Nvidia has committed roughly $90bn to dealmaking over just the past 16 months."}],[{"start":509.8,"text":"Going public A wave of tech IPOs is coming as the AI sector operates with “impossible maths”, Joachim Klement writes in the FT. Seen this way, the listings will just shift the risk of an impending correction to new investors."}],[{"start":524.3,"text":"Urban decline London’s economy has suffered under the successive shocks of the financial crisis, Brexit and the pandemic. Population and productivity growth have stagnated, the FT reports, and the city’s woes are a problem for all of the UK."}],[{"start":540.15,"text":"News round-up"}],[{"start":541.5,"text":"Italy’s biggest bank explores bid for Spanish wealth manager (FT)"}],[{"start":546.05,"text":"StanChart does damage control after boss calls staff ‘lower-value human capital’ (FT)"}],[{"start":551.8,"text":"Big Europe and Asian private equity health funds merge to defy AI disruption (FT)"}],[{"start":558.75,"text":"Europe’s biggest office deal since 2022 collapses (FT)"}],[{"start":564.35,"text":"JPMorgan banker fights back over ‘fabricated’ sex harassment claims (FT)"}],[{"start":569.9,"text":"Zuckerberg promises no more ‘company-wide’ lay-offs after slashing jobs (FT)"}],[{"start":576.3,"text":"Nvidia to return more than $80bn to shareholders as it reaps rewards of AI boom (FT)"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":588.0999999999999,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1779511700_8941.mp3"}