Moneyweb – Balding, bespectacled and slight of build, Bill Bowder is an unlikely attraction in a city which constantly reminds you that the world\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s biggest movie stars gather here every year. Amongthe hedge fund fraternity, though, Bowder\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s celebrated like Charlize in Benoni.<\/p>\n
Not only for his investment prowess. The founder and CEO of Hermitage Capital\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s fame is owed, rather, to some corrupt Russian bureaucrat. Last November, his Visa was withdrawn.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00e2\u201e\u00a2s do it all again, he tartly explained that$1m invested in his fund when it started a decade back would be worth $24m today.<\/p>\n
As Bowder put it: \u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c5\u201cSo 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.\u00c3\u00a2\u00e2\u201a\u00ac\u00c2\u009d<\/p>\n