By Claire Makin
Pine Grove Asset Management’s president, Matthew Stadtmauer, has strong views about what it takes to run a successful fund of funds business in today’s hostile environment. “You have to have a clear value-added. If you can’t explain to a client in two minutes how you are distinct from other funds of hedge funds, you aren’t going to be with that client,” he says.
Pine Grove manages $960 million from offices in New Jersey and Manhattan. From 1994 to 2011, the company was owned by its founder, Arthur ‘Art’ Williams (now chairman), a distinguished figure on Wall Street for more than 45 years, who devised its conservative investment philosophy. His book, Managing Your Investment Manager, is now in its fourth edition.
The firm’s approach is based on avoiding eight common but distinct types of risk – both market and trading risks....