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It has made money in 24 out of the past 25 years — a period that includes the dotcom bust and the global financial crisis of 2008-09 — earning hundreds of milli

It has made money in 24 out of the past 25 years — a period that includes the dotcom bust and the global financial crisis of 2008-09 — earning hundreds of millions of dollars for McKinsey partners and alumni, according to an investor in Compass. Over the same period, the average fund of hedge funds has lost money in five years, according to data provider Hedge Fund Research. "Think about it...McKinsey is the foremost management consultancy with better links/knowledge and influence over the World's leading companies. Its partners are very smart. Yet they can operate and compete in the highly competitive world of investment - not a management consultancy's core area of expertise - better than large, established professional money managers - without the competitive advantages coming from their insight as management consultants! Really! If that were true, they would spin off MIO and run it 'for profit' becoming one of the leading global money managers. Or does an opaque structure work better for them?" - https://www.ft.com/content/7c6700bc-2976-11e6-8b18-91555f2f4fde https://www.ft.com/content/7c6700bc-2976-11e6-8b18-91555f2f4...

throwaway999775 7y ago
(Same account, lost original login) This quote is misleading. It implies that McKinsey consulting partners are the ones making the investment strategies which is false. The large investment unit is run by... surprise surprise... finance professionals. Furthermore 90% of the MIO’s investments are in externally managed funds, the investment decisions of which the MIO does not control. Spinning off the MIO as a for profit firm would frankly be misaligned with the firm values. It’s also not especially opaque, as it’s fully registered and files documents on its structure and what not. Journalists have simultaneously been using those filings and claiming the structure is opaque. Again. It’s possible that McKinsey partners engage in insider trading (although it is very difficult as all trades in the firm are required to be approved by compliance). But I really don’t think there’s a logical thread by which partners take enormous risks to circumvent internal controls and provide tips to the MIO just to boost the fund performance. That’s a very high risk, low payoff idea, because even if your secret info is super profitable, it’s diluted across thousands of other partners before benefiting you personally. Claiming that it happens on a massive scale to offset that is just silly and is frankly a huge accusation with no basis. It’s fully possible that the fund was just well managed.

throwaway999775 7y ago

(Same account, lost original login) This quote is misleading. It implies that McKinsey consulting partners are the ones making the investment strategies which is false. The large investment unit is run by... surprise surprise... finance professionals. Furthermore 90% of the MIO’s investments are in externally managed funds, the investment decisions of which the MIO does not control. Spinning off the MIO as a for profit firm would frankly be misaligned with the firm values. It’s also not especially opaque, as it’s fully registered and files documents on its structure and what not. Journalists have simultaneously been using those filings and claiming the structure is opaque. Again. It’s possible that McKinsey partners engage in insider trading (although it is very difficult as all trades in the firm are required to be approved by compliance). But I really don’t think there’s a logical thread by which partners take enormous risks to circumvent internal controls and provide tips to the MIO just to boost the fund performance. That’s a very high risk, low payoff idea, because even if your secret info is super profitable, it’s diluted across thousands of other partners before benefiting you personally. Claiming that it happens on a massive scale to offset that is just silly and is frankly a huge accusation with no basis. It’s fully possible that the fund was just well managed.