Nathaniel Philip Rothschild: His Success

Nathaniel Philip Rothschild started working with Barakett as a minority partner in the nascent fund, then $90 million in assets, in the fall of 1996. Barakett gave him the title of director of business development and expected him to tap his considerable social and family connections for new capital.

The fund’s extraordinary performance, since its beginnings it is has grown on average 30 percent a year, made Nathaniel Rothschild’s job much easier. Even so, some early investors such as Peter Munk, the founder and chairman of Barrick Gold, were skeptical at first.

In 2001, he agreed to meet with Nathaniel Philip Rothschild at the request of Rothschild’s father, a longtime friend. “He did not carry the halo of being the future of the family,” Munk recalled of their short meeting in the lobby of Claridge’s hotel in London. “I wanted to get rid of the boy.” When Rothschild said he was a partner in a hedge fund, Munk had his doubts, assuming that the fund was just a family hedge fund. “He was indignant,” Munk reminisced. “‘My family did not put in one cent,’ he proclaimed.”

Munk would become an investor and a well satisfied one. Currently, Rothschild is on Barrick’s advisory board and is an investor along with Munk in the TriGranit Development Corporation, which is a real estate company that invests in Hungary and Eastern Europe.

With his mix of Old World politesse, and an appreciation for fast times and the brute force of accumulating wealth, Rothschild has become the friend and adviser to many people including Russian billionaires, Indian steel magnates and the many people who have helped him out during his ascent.

To a great extent, the source of Rothschild’s renewed wealth and influence is tied to the explosive growth of Atticus, where from 2002 to 2005 the assets have surged to $14 billion from $2 billion. In 2005, Rothschild was paid $80 million in compensation and in 2006 he made more than that at Atticus.

Latter co-chairman, he spent less time raising money for the fund, which is for the most part closed. However, his influence in opening doors for Barakett, especially in Europe, has been great. His Oxford connections helped when he pried David Slager, also an Oxford alumnus, away from Goldman Sachs’s risk arbitrage desk in London. Now Slager is Barakett’s top investing deputy and a vice chairman at the fund.

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