Institutional Investor will honor Brian Higgins and O. Francis Biondi Jr., co-founders of hedge fund firm King Street Capital Management, with Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 20th annual Hedge Fund Industry Awards on May 11.
Since Higgins and Biondi launched New York-based King Street Capital in 1995, the hedge fund has become one of the top in the world, best known for its ability to spy credit opportunities across asset classes. King Street Capital has made $18.7 billion in net gains for investors since it started, according to research by LCH Investments. (Biondi retired in 2020.)
The success of the firm has enriched the founders, who in years past have made II’s annual Rich List, the definitive ranking of the 25 highest-earning hedge fund managers, based on a combination of fee earnings and gains on their own capital.
Hedge funds are usually secretive, but King Street has historically been especially discreet. Biondi and Higgins declined numerous requests to comment for a 2012 article about the hedge fund. “They don’t meet people,” an investor in the fund told II at the time. This source, like most investors contacted for that story, wanted to remain anonymous. “Not even investors. They believe their job is to manage assets.”
King Street currently manages more than $22 billion in assets and has six offices and almost 250 employees.
In 2022, hedge funds had their worst year since the financial crisis. Credit funds were among the categories that suffered, if not as badly as equity long-short funds. But King Street Capital fared better than many of its peers: It was down just 3.8 percent for the year, according to a person who has seen the results.
Despite the challenging markets, it was business as usual at King Street Capital last year. It began raising money for at least two new funds, its King Street Global Drawdown Fund II and its King Street Opportunistic Credit Fund, according to two separate regulatory filings.
It has also continued to attract talent in the industry. In December, the firm hired Kristerfor Mastronardi to be its new global head of strategy. Mastronardi previously held a similar position at Blackstone. And last month, King Street opened an office in Dubai and hired Reda Zebdi, who was previously the head of institutional clients in the Middle East at BlackRock, to lead its Middle East and North Africa operations.
The 20th Annual Hedge Fund Industry Awards will take at the Mandarin Oriental in New York City. At the dinner, II will also honor Susan Ridlen, Eli Lilly’s longtime chief investment officer, as this year’s allocator Lifetime Achievement Award honoree.
Find out more information about the Hedge Fund Industry Awards on the event website.
