Family-Office Alums of Soros, Alibaba's Tsai Form New Hedge Fund
A hedge fund manager with close ties to Alibaba vice chairman Joseph Tsai hopes to add a little George Soros magic, teaming with two partners from the Soros family office to form a new management firm.
Dubbed Old Farm Partners, the New York-based firm was co-founded earlier this year by John Barry Purcell, the former chief operating officer of Tsai's Blue Pool Capital. Joining Purcell are partners Kieran Cavanna and Nishi Shah, both most recently of George Soros' family investing office, Soros Fund Management.
The Hong Kong-based Blue Pool, controlled by Tsai, reputedly also manages the funds of other Alibaba Holdings (BABA) - Get Report founders. Alibaba co-founder and CEO Jack Ma is worth more than $33 billion.
In the late 1990s, Tsai, a Taiwan-born graduate of Yale Law School, reportedly left a $700,000 salary to join Alibaba for $50 a month. His stake in the firm is now worth at least $5 billion.
Purcell departed Tsai's Blue Pool last summer, after the firm stopped taking external investments and began returning money to existing investors in a pivot to focusing exclusively on "a group of close-knit long-term investors," according to a person with knowledge of the plans. As part of the pivot, Blue Pool's longtime chief investment officer Alexander G.L. West was joined by Citadel's Oliver Weisberg as COO and co-managing partner.
"I could not have built as successful of a hedge fund that BPC managed without Barry," West said in an email, noting Purcell was especially skilled in managing investor relations.
Blue Pool and Old Farm have ongoing business ties, according to a person with knowledge of the arrangement. West declined to comment on whether Blue Pool had invested in the fund; a Soros spokeman said the firm has no affiliation with Old Farm.
"Alibaba, Jack Ma and Blue Pool have not invested in Old Farm Partners," and Old Farm has not invested in Blue Pool's funds, an Alibaba spokesman said in a written statement.
As of June, Old Farm's main fund had raised at least $11 million from 10 U.S. investors, while its offshore fund had raised $15 million from a single investor, according to filings.
People with knowledge of Old Farm said it has about $65 million under management, and will be a fund of hedge funds focused on equities and macroeconomic trends, according to a Bloomberg report.
Cavanna, who will serve as chief investment officer at Old Farm, had been an asset manger at Soros. He and Shah both departed the firm in October, several months after Soros' former chief investment officer, Scott Bessent, left the family office. Shah had done research for the family investing firm.
Purcell and Cavanna, both alums of the University of Richmond in Virginia, have "complimenting backgrounds," said West. "I have known Kieran [Cavanna] for around 10 years and have the greatest respect for him as an investor and asset allocator."
Purcell and Cavanna did not return calls seeking comment.