Five things you didn’t know about Chris Hohn, Britain’s most generous philanthropist

NS business profile of the week.

Charity cards, carol services, collection tins and donate-a-goat-to-Africa gifts are all typical of this season’s charitable nature. Christmas and philanthropy are inseparable and it is therefore the occasion for charities to top up on much needed donations. However, with today’s economic climate, how are charities coping? NS Profile takes a look at one person who has given more than most over recent years. Here are five things you didn’t know about Chris Hohn:

One of the UK’s most successful hedge fund managers, Hohn has donated over £800 million to children’s charities since 2003. His Children’s Investment Fund Foundation receives direct grants from his hedge fund of the same name. In terms of voluntary income, Children’s Investment Foundation receives £2.2 million more than the Donkey Sanctuary.
The notoriously discrete fund manager is worth about £80 million. This makes him one of the most generous British philanthropists when donations are weighed against personal wealth. Bill Clinton once said that Hohn’s “marriage of business and philanthropy provides a great tool to effect serious change in the developing world”.
One of Hohn’s recent “hedging” successes was with News Corp. After the phone hacking scandal broke in 2011, News Corp’s shares were in free fall. Against popular opinion, Hohn brought £500 million worth of shares which are now worth £829 million, a 60 per cent increase.
However, Hohn has not always been as popular in the City as he is with charities. His TCI fund is known for buying large stakes in flagging companies and forcing radical change. During one of his more bitter disputes, Hohn ousted the chief executive of Deutsche Börse, Werner Seifert.
The son of a Jamaican car mechanic, Hohn was rumoured to begin his giving pledge after witnessing child poverty in the Philippines. Since then his hedging success has helped millions of children in the world’s poorest countries.