Kopernik Global Investors, a global equity investment management firm, was launched July 1 by David Iben, former head of the global value group at hedge fund manager Vinik Asset Management, according to a news release from Kopernik.
The 20-person investment team at Kopernik had made up the majority of the global value group at Vinik Asset Management. Some of the team members also had worked with Mr. Iben when he was co-president and chief investment officer at Nuveen Investments' Tradewinds Global Investors.
Founder Jeff Vinik closed Vinik Asset Management last month to focus on charitable work and the Tampa Bay Lightning, the professional hockey team he bought in 2010. Mr. Iben left Tradewinds to join Vinik Asset Management in June 2012.
The new firm was named after Mikolaj Kopernik, known by his Latin name, Nicolaus Copernicus, the Polish-born mathematician and astronomer who said the sun, rather than the Earth, was the center of the universe.
Kassim Gaffar, spokesman for Kopernik, said the firm manages long-short and global all-cap equity strategies for Mr. Vinik as well as for “friends and family” of staff members, but the firm is also marketing its strategies to institutional investors.
