A reclusive hedge fund manager has given almost half a billion pounds to a charity run by his wife, in the largest single philanthropic gesture ever made by a Briton.
Chris Hohn, who lives in north London, donated £466m to the Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), the charitable arm of the London-based hedge fund TCI, which he founded.
Hohn, who has been dubbed the "ruthless philanthropist", is believed to be the sixth highest-earning hedge fund manager in the world. His fund has built a reputation for aggressive shareholder activism, and is worth more than £5bn. When he set up TCI in 2003, Hohn pledged to donate a percentage of its earnings to its charitable side, which is managed by his wife, Jamie Cooper-Hohn.
The foundation has given money to the Clinton foundation for the treatment of HIV and Aids, to a scheme to help orphans in Malawi and to emergency aid projects in Darfur. Cooper-Hohn has said she runs the charity using the business model of her husband's fund. She once said: "I was very eager that if we did this we would do it very much in the way Chris invests, making long-term, well-researched investments, bringing business rigour and a private-sector approach into development."
The Hohns are believed to have given almost £800m in only four years, making them Britain's most generous philanthropists. Sir Tom Hunter, the Scottish billionaire, reportedly promised to give £1bn to charity, spread over his lifetime.
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Cooper-Hohn said: "One of the things that attracted Chris and I was the shared sense of something that is larger than ourselves and the thrill that we can have a positive impact."
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