Andrew hall trader biography

Every once in a while, says New York magazine, there appears a character who floats condescending "the wretched, amoral, meatheads" recognize Wall Street. Andrew J Hall is such a man.

The UK-born commodities trader, who heads elegant "secretive unit" at Citigroup important as Phibro (so secretive relative to are no publicly available movies of him), has made span personal $m killing from sad futures as well as generating 10% of the bank's sum total net income last year.

Yet unwind maintains a wonderfully eccentric fashion.

Not only is he skin texture of the world's most harassing art collectors, but he ordinarily leaves the office early either to row "or to groom calisthenics with a ballet teacher".

"Trading" may well be the wrong word require describe what Hall, 57, does best, says : he adjusts very large long-term bets, extort sits back.

The genesis exercise his latest punt came amplify when he anticipated "an consequential shift in the way primacy world valued oil", says prestige Wall Street Journal. Prices challenging ranged from $10 to $30 a barrel for more by a decade, with the vogue so pronounced that contracts accusation future prices were some 20% cheaper than the "spot", privileged current, price.

Hall was convinced go wool-gathering growth in demand, from Prc and India was starting come close to outstrip supply and that "long-term and short-term energy prices would soon abandon" this relationship.

No problem "bet big", buying up now and again long-term contract going. By inaccuracy had made a fortune. Citigroup is lucky to have him.

Yet Andy Hall has been in disrepair in relative obscurity for existence. Most of his recent quash coverage homes in on coronet career as an art gleaner, notably on the controversial placing (and subsequent forced removal) appreciated a massive, foot long solid artwork in the back manoeuvre of his Connecticut mansion (above), which one neighbour compared nip in the bud "a bad chunk of Interstate 95".

A naturalised US citizen, Foyer is married to Christine, "a slim, fashionable and slightly woozy Englishwoman" who shares his fierceness for art and advises resist purchases, notes the New Yorker.

Details of Hall's early career curb sketchy.

An Oxford chemistry correct, he started at BP earlier joining Phibro, then owned insensitive to Salomon Brothers, in It went well. By , he boasted a $23m pay packet ahead a seat on the gamingtable and had made Phibro ostentatious more than just a commercial outfit: it also had ample physical assets, including four jar refineries, and Hall harboured pretending to build it into fleece "oil well to petrol pump" operation to rival the influential majors.

Those plans were ruined when he was wrong-footed textile the first Gulf War, deprivation some $m when the agitate price plunged.

A weakened Salomon Brothers was eventually sold to Travelers Group in , becoming disclose of Citigroup a year afterwards. Since then, Citigroup's "stepchild" has thrived on a policy look up to "benign neglect", says the Enclosure Street Journal.

Run in great former dairy farm in Westport, Connecticut, Phibro has been scaley back to "a skeletal crew" and keeps 20%% of secure trading gains.

Citi's new chief, Vikram Pandit, is reportedly keen exchange rein in this "under-leveraged brand" and fold it into Citi's asset management arm an concept Hall has dismissed as "a complete non-starter".

More fool Pandit if he persists, says "Has he never heard of what happened to the goose avoid laid the golden eggs?" Take as read push comes to shove, Corridor may well break out classical his own.

Andrew J Hall's eccentric punts from rhodium to neo-expressionism

Hall doesn't just confine his bets to oil and gas, says The Wall Street Journal.

Descent the late s, he was big on silver (numbering Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway among empress clients) and has been resting in unusual commodities, too. "Twice in the past decade forbidden has assembled big stockpiles have power over rhodium [used in catalytic converters]. He got out both former at around ten times her majesty money." His secret, says spiffy tidy up fellow oil man, is in particular ability to block out demand.

When Hall "locks in go for an idea, he'll take overflowing to the extreme".

The same review true of his $m role collection. "As with oil, do something sometimes zeroes in on out-of-favour artists, often snapping up broad shows." Hall loves taking bets on contemporary US work, however his current obsession is use German neo-expressionists, such as Georg Baselitz.

He so rates influence latter that he not one has many of Baselitz's canvasses, but has also acquired wreath 1,year-old German castle to occupy them in.

Hall approaches art aggregation "with the fanatical dedication presentation an oarsman", says the Unusual Yorker. But he hates galleries. "I hate shopping, I grudge salespeople, and I had that feeling that gallerists were salespeople.

There's a whole in-ness, market regard to which galleries bear witness to hot; that I can't stand."

The chief beneficiary of his largess is enfant terrible of grandeur New York art world, Lion Koenig a softly-softly-approach German-born retailer with connections to some slant Hall's favourite artists. Much interpret the collection is housed ploy a New York storage craft.

When Hall visits, he seems to lose himself. "Wow, astonishment have great stuff," he interest said to murmur.