Energy and utility hedge fund manager Copia Capital and its original founder Tim Flannery have recently broken away from Morgan Stanley’s FrontPoint Partners to become an independent. According to the Wall Street Journal, Copia Capital, which manages $520 million, will no longer operate with FrontPoint Partners and has already launched its own independent fund. The hedge fund manager had partnered with FrontPoint since August 2002, and since then Copia Capital has managed FrontPoint’s Utility and Energy Fund and its Energy Horizons Fund. Copia Capital invests across multiple energy value sectors, including utility, energy, industrial and material companies, with a market-neutral equity strategy.
Copia Capital was founded as a partnership between the former utility and energy investment team from Chicago-based Trove Partners and Greenwich-based hedge fund FrontPoint Partners. FrontPoint, which was acquired by Morgan Stanley in 2006, was founded in 2000 by Tiger Management veterans Philip Duff and Gil Caffary. Mr. Duff and Mr. Caffary have since departed the firm. Most recently, Duff launched Duff Capital Advisors in the spring of 2008, an endeavor that had grandiose ambitions, but was ultimately unsuccessful as its launch coincided with the financial crisis.
Before founding Copia Capital, the firm’s Managing Director Tim Flannery was a portfolio manager for the Trove Market Neutral Fund at Trove Partners. Mr. Flannery recently commented that after the break-off, Copia Capital will develop as an institutional-quality investment advisor. In addition to its own hedge fund, the firm will continue to manage assets for the Utility and Energy Fund for FrontPoint Partners. |
