Paul Ruddock will retire as CEO of Lansdowne Partners, the London-based hedge fund he co-founded, at the end of June to focus on interests outside asset management.
Lansdowne, the biggest European hedge fund focused on stock picking with $12.4 billion in assets, will start looking for a successor, according to a company statement Monday. Mr. Ruddock founded the hedge fund 15 years ago with Steven Heinz after running the international division at Schroder Investment Management.
Mr. Ruddock is stepping down after the Lansdowne Developed Markets Fund, the firm's biggest with $8.6 billion of assets, rebounded from its worst year in 2011 to post an 18% gain in 2012.
“The firm is at a very good place,” Mr. Ruddock said in an interview. “The amount of assets are stable and we've had very little turnover in staff. Clearly, if I didn't feel that, I wouldn't be stepping down.”
Lansdowne's investment decisions won't be affected by Mr. Ruddock's retirement because he ran the operations-side of the firm, the hedge fund said in the statement.
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II knighted Mr. Ruddock for services to the arts and philanthropy last year. He is chairman of London's Victoria & Albert Museum and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art appointed him a trustee in 2011.
