Bloomberg analysis of Alister Hibbert’s remuneration suggests the Blackrock fund manager raked in up to four times the pay of his chief executive, Larry Fink, thanks to his hedge fund’s performance fees.
Hibbert runs the Blackrock Strategic Equity Hedge fund with his colleague Michael Constantis and three analysts. The $9bn strategy has a 20% performance fee, which delivered handsomely for Blackrock and the investment team in 2020, when the fund delivered gross returns of 50%, according to Bloomberg. Investors netted 38%.
Blackrock netted a record $1.1bn in performance fees in 2020 and Bloomberg calculations suggest $480m of that came from Hibbert’s fund. That same year, Hibbert stepped back from the £4.5bn European Dynamic fund, plus its €4.5bn Sicav version, to focus on long/short and unconstrained investing.
Sources told Bloomberg that Blackrock would likely let the investment team retain half of its performance fees with industry norms suggesting Hibbert would have taken home about $120m. That compares to Fink’s $30m pay packet from the same period.
The fund has delivered outperformance of 10% compared to the MSCI World Index since launch, but Bloomberg reported his growth-orientated portfolio has recently struggled amid inflation fears.
His largest holdings at the end of August included Facebook, Alphabet, Mastercard, Microsoft, LVMH and animal health company Zoetis.
See also: Alister Hibbert steps back from Blackrock European Dynamic to focus on long/short
