How Chris built the fortune
Chris Hohn's wealth comes from The Children's Investment Fund Management, usually shortened to TCI, which he founded in London in 2003. The name reflects an unusual original arrangement: part of the fees earned by the fund was pledged to a charitable foundation focused on children in developing countries. As a manager, Hohn earns management and performance fees on the capital TCI runs, and as the firm's owner he has kept a large share of those profits, much of which he has invested alongside clients in the fund itself.
TCI's approach is to own a small number of high quality companies for many years and to push their boards hard when it believes value is being wasted. In its early years the fund gained attention for aggressive campaigns. In 2005 it led shareholder opposition to Deutsche Börse's attempt to buy the London Stock Exchange, a fight that ended with the German exchange abandoning the bid and its chief executive leaving. In 2007 TCI urged the Dutch bank ABN Amro to break itself up or sell, setting off the contest that ended in a takeover by a consortium led by Royal Bank of Scotland.
Later the strategy became quieter but more concentrated. TCI built large holdings in businesses with strong pricing power and high barriers to entry, such as credit rating agencies, payment networks, railways, aerospace suppliers and airport and toll road operators. Long holding periods and strong returns over the 2010s and 2020s lifted both the fund's assets and Hohn's personal stake in it.
Hohn's public letters to companies are often blunt. He has argued that boards should cut costs, return surplus cash and avoid acquisitions that dilute returns, and he has opposed executive pay packages he considers excessive. That style has made TCI one of the more closely watched shareholders in Europe and North America.
Companies and holdings
TCI Fund Management is privately owned and controlled by Hohn. Its public filings show a concentrated portfolio that over recent years has included names such as:
- Moody's and S&P Global in credit ratings and data
- Visa in payments
- Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City in North American rail
- GE Aerospace, Safran and Airbus in aviation
- Alphabet and Microsoft in technology
- Ferrovial in infrastructure
Holdings change over time, but the common thread is a preference for dominant franchises that can raise prices and generate cash for many years. TCI also uses its votes to press companies on climate disclosure and emissions plans.
Early life and career
Hohn grew up in Addlestone, Surrey, the son of an immigrant from Jamaica who worked as a car mechanic and a mother who was a secretary. He studied accounting and economics at the University of Southampton, then began his career in private equity at Apax Partners. He later earned an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he graduated with high honours.
After Harvard he joined Perry Capital, the hedge fund founded by Richard Perry, and ran European investments from its London office. The experience of event driven investing at Perry shaped his later style. When he left to start TCI, he took the lessons of focused positions and active engagement with management, and he was joined for the first years by co-founder Patrick Degorce, who later left to set up his own firm.
Philanthropy and public life
The Children's Investment Fund Foundation, known as CIFF, is among the largest private foundations in the United Kingdom. Hohn founded it with his then wife, Jamie Cooper, and it has given large sums for child health and nutrition, family planning, education and climate action, mainly in Africa and Asia. After the couple's divorce in 2014 the foundation's direct link to the fund's fees ended, but Hohn has continued to give it substantial amounts from his own wealth.
Hohn was knighted in 2014 for services to philanthropy and international development. He has also become an outspoken voice on climate change, backing the Say on Climate campaign that asks companies to put their transition plans to a shareholder vote, and in 2019 he donated to the protest group Extinction Rebellion.