An engaging look at the investment and hedge fund world, through the eyes of an industry legend
Barton Biggs is one of the most well-respected figures in the investment management community. He has prospered during both bull and bear markets, and has adapted to an investment landscape that has been transformed by technology and globalization. His legendary money management skills helped set the benchmark for investment management excellence. Now, for the first time, Biggs shares his experiences in the world of hedge funds and investments.
Through an interwoven series of entertaining and informative chapters, HedgeHogging reveals Biggs’ experiences–with friends and acquaintances–over his investment years. Some material encompasses the highlights from his 30-year career at Morgan Stanley, while many other parts are more recent and relate to the creation and investment endeavors of Biggs’ hedge fund. Filled with in-depth insights and valuable lessons, the stories and events described throughout the book offer a rare glimpse of the investment business and the people who are a part of it. These stories, based on Biggs’ experiences (although some have been fictionalized to protect the innocent as well as the guilty), candidly reveal the intensity, stress, foibles, and insecurities of the men and women who manage other people’s money. They also capture the ecstasy of getting investment performance right and the agony of being wrong. In the aftermath of the great bull market and the bursting of the bubble, many professional investors have been looked upon as overpaid individuals that promise much, but deliver little. HedgeHogging takes readers inside this world and shows them how the challenging battle for investment survival can be its own life-or-death struggle for individuals participating in this competitive field.
Barton Biggs (Greenwich, CT) spent 30 years at Morgan Stanley. In that time, he formed Morgan’s number-one-ranked research department, built up its investment management business, and served as chairman of the investment management firm. At various times during this period, he was ranked as the number one U.S. investment strategist by the Institutional Investor magazine poll and then, from 1996 to 2003, as the number one global strategist. He was also a member of the five-man executive committee that ran the firm until its merger with Dean Whitter in 1996. In 2003, Biggs left Morgan Stanley and with two other colleagues formed Traxis Partners–the largest new hedge fund in 2003. Traxis now has well over a billion dollars under its management. Biggs, whose name is legendary on Wall Street, has spoken at forums in every major country and has appeared on CNBC and other programs on more than 300 occasions.