By Claire Makin
When Islandbridge’s chief investment officer goes on a business trip, it is not just to visit managers. Joseph McCarthy also uses his contacts to set up meetings with people close to the local economy and markets.
McCarthy is looking mainly for investment themes that could give an edge to Islandbridge, the London-based multi-family office boutique he founded in October 2008. But he is also on the prowl for facts of an equally vital nature. He may pick up hints about the local activity of Islandbridge’s managers based in other parts of the world, for instance.
This ear-to-the-ground approach is more typical of a hedge fund manager than a multi-manager provider, but Islandbridge is committed to digging down beneath “the sales patter and the broker-type information”, as McCarthy puts it, to get to the bare facts.
He may spend up to a day in the...