If you want to get an idea of what pay is really possible in large, publicly listed hedge funds, it’s worth looking at the figures filed in small subsidiaries over the accounts unveiled by the investor relations department. Och-Ziff Capital Management, for example, says it paid an average of $106k per head so far in 2014 across all its global offices. In its UK division, which has just filed 2013 accounts, pay is decidedly higher at an average of £680k ($1.1m) per head for the year.
Last year was a stellar year for Och-Ziff’s London office compared to 2012. Profits were £14.2m, a 115% uplift on the previous year’s £6.9m. This positive performance appears to have carried into 2014 with revenue at the firm increasing by 15% to $262.5m for the first half of the year on 2013.
Relative to the surge in profits, Och-Ziff has not been overly generous to its 66 employees in its European office. Last year, it employed 63 staff, paying an average of £607.9k. As ever, the overall compensation figure is uniquely to be divided evenly – Och-Ziff employs 36 investment professionals, who of course will receive more than support staff, and also allocated £36m to what it deems to be ‘code staff’ under the Financial Conduct Authority remuneration rules.
The highest paid director at the firm – presumably either Andrew Frank, its chief executive, or Joel Frank, its chief financial officer – received £2.2m for the year.
Globally, Och-Ziff has been increasing headcount throughout 2014, but there’s little evidence of this benefiting the supposedly booming London office. So far this year, only Hugh Cutler, who joined in May as a managing director from Legal & General Investment Management where he was head of Europe and the Middle East, has signed up, as has Vincent Olekhnovitch, who joined as a convertible bonds analyst from Credit Suisse in September.
Assets under management at Ocf-Ziff stood at $45.9bn as of 30 June 2014, a 25% increase on the same period in 2013.
