Rich List 2012: No.25 - Paul Ruddock (£280m)
When the recently-Virginised Northern Rock came crashing down, financier Paul Ruddock’s Lansdowne Partners hedge fund made a reported £100 million profit for investors after betting on its collapse.
Funds managed by Lansdowne made a further £28 million on the Barclays Bank share price by acting very quickly when the ban on short selling was lifted. Shortselling deals on insurance firms Aviva, Prudential, Old Mutual and Legal & General have also added millions to the Lansdowne coffers.
A former pupil of the independent King Edward’s School in Edgbaston and Schroders executive, Paul Ruddock, 52, co-founded Lansdowne in 1998 with Steven Heinz. He is now chief executive of the firm which has nearly £10 billion of funds under management, and has won a string of awards.
Before setting up Lansdowne he was managing director and head of international at Schroders, and also worked in investment equities at Goldman Sachs.
He has more than 28 years experience in global financial markets.
