Moneyweb – Balding, bespectacled and slight of build, Bill Bowder is an unlikely attraction in a city which constantly reminds you that the world’s biggest movie stars gather here every year. Amongthe hedge fund fraternity, though, Bowder’s celebrated like Charlize in Benoni.
Not only for his investment prowess. The founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital’s fame is owed, rather, to some corrupt Russian bureaucrat. Last November, his Visa was withdrawn.
After ten years of agitating for greater corporate governance in a system he says is riddled with corruption, fraud and thievery on a grand scale, the subject of his ire tired of the American gadfly.Someone was slipped a brown envelope and Bowder is no longer allowed to personally watch over $4bn in assets managed by his Russian-focused fund.
Unusually for the usually secretive hedgies, the now New York-based investor has no qualms about sharing his success. In answer to my question whether he’s do it all again, he tartly explained that$1m invested in his fund when it started a decade back would be worth $24m today.
As Bowder put it: “So would I go through all the threats, bribes, phone taps and general harassment again? Oh yeah. Russia is a very tough place. But you are extremely well paid to do business there.The rewards are very much worth the effort.â€Â
