Michael Hintze

In April 2020, Bloomberg reported that "Michael Hintze's main fund was said to face at least 30% drop in quarter".

According to the 2019 Sunday Times Rich List, Hintze is worth £1.5 billion, an increase of £120 million from 2018. In the 2016 Forbes magazine list of The World's Billionaires, he was the world's 1,011th richest person, with a net worth of approximately US$ 1.8 billion.

In December 2019, Barrons reported that "the roughly $19 billion fund is taking the view that next year will bring more investment opportunities among distressed companies, meaning those that are in default, restructuring, or at risk of either event. Their calls on two specific sectors—malls and the energy sector—are especially notable because they are contrarian."

Sustainable agricultural processes and environmental responsibility are core facets of MHPF’s approach.

Funding was provided for the construction of a residential wing at St. John’s College at the University of Sydney, which was named the Hintze Building. Hintze has also donated $1 million to the University of New South Wales (UNSW) for a new lecture theatre. The donation was made in honour of his father, Michael Hintze senior, who is also a UNSW alumnus. Gifts have also been made to Harvard University ($10m) and Princeton University, where a Professorship for the Arts has been established in his wife's maiden name (Dorothy Krauklis).

Hintze currently serves as a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery, the Institute of Economic Affairs, the University of Sydney Trust, as a Member of the Harvard Business School Board of Dean’s Advisors’, and as Senior Vice Patron of the Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity. He was formerly chairman of the Prince's Foundation for Building Community.

Hintze was formerly a trustee of the National Gallery, where he assisted in securing Titian’s Diana and Actaeon for the nation. He was initially appointed to the National Gallery's Board of Trustees by then Labour Party Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2008. He was later reappointed by Conservative Party Prime Minister David Cameron.

In 2018, it was reported that CQS's main fund increased by 30%.

In a March 2018 article published in Barrons, Michael Hintze stated that "every crisis is a trading opportunity".

He was named to the 2017 Debrett’s 500 List, in recognition of his considerable philanthropic contributions in the UK. He was also named to the Evening Standard’s “Progress 1000” list of “London’s most influential people,” citing his philanthropic contributions and business success.

With his wife Dorothy, Hintze set up the Hintze Family Charitable Foundation. In the area of culture and the arts, notable donations include enabling the restoration of Michelangelo's frescoes in the Pauline Chapel at the Vatican and in 2014 donating £5 million to the Natural History Museum, London. The donation to the Natural History Museum is the biggest single donation received by the museum in 133 years (in other words, since 1881 when the Museum opened to the public for the first time). The gift will be used in part to fund programmes to study problems that threaten Earth's biodiversity such as the maintenance of delicate ecosystems and the impacts of environmental pollution, as well as the battle against diseases such as malaria. The museum's Central Hall has since been renamed 'Hintze Hall'.

In 2013, Hintze's CQS received awards for the "Best Hedge Fund Manager Overall," "Best Hedge Fund Manager in Credit," and "Best Multi-Hedge Fund Manager" at the Financial News Awards for Excellence in Institutional Hedge Fund Management. CQS was reported to be on the opposite side of the infamous JPMorgan trade by Bruno Iksil, nicknamed the London Whale, in which JPMorgan lost an estimated $2 billion. The total gains by CQS are unknown.

In January 2013, Hintze was appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for his "significant service to the community through philanthropic contributions to organisations supporting the arts, health and education."

He was knighted in the United Kingdom's 2013 Birthday Honours for services to the arts. He received his accolade on 23 October 2013 by The Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace.

In October 2011, it was revealed that Adam Werritty, a close friend and business associate of then Secretary of State for Defence Liam Fox, was provided with a free desk by Hintze at CQS's London base as part of his £29,000 donation to Fox's charity The Atlantic Bridge. Hintze also supplied a private jet for Fox and Werritty to fly from the United States to London in May 2011. These disclosures led to the resignation of Liam Fox (who was then Secretary of State for Defence) and the dismissal of Hintze's then-charity adviser, Oliver Hylton.

In recognition of their charitable contributions in support of the arts, Michael Hintze and his wife Dorothy received the Prince of Wales Medal for Arts Philanthropy in 2009.

When the Conservative Party were in opposition, Hintze disclosed that he had donated to George Osborne, David Willetts, Liam Fox, Theresa May, David Davis, Adam Holloway, and Boris Johnson. In addition, CQS made non-cash donations to William Hague, Liam Fox, and George Osborne. In May 2008, David Cameron declared a donation from Hintze to the Conservative Party that was used to pay for drinks receptions for Tory MPs and their partners. In March 2008, Hintze paid for a private jet to ferry Cameron and Osborne from Newcastle to Biggin Hill after the Conservative Party conference.

In 2007, Hintze established MH Premium Farms (MHPF), a group of agriculture companies based mainly in Australia. MHPF now owns more than 20 properties in eastern Australia, covering a total area of more than 70,000 hectares. The properties offer a broad portfolio including: fat lambs, wool and cattle; broad acre cropping of cereals and oilseeds; irrigated cotton and sugar.

In 2006, at the time of the Cash for Peerages allegations concerning the Labour Party, Hintze voluntarily revealed he was one of the previously anonymous patrons who had made loans to the Conservative Party. In 2011 his known loans and donations to the party totalled around £4 million. In the five months to September 2011 he donated £31,000, enough to grant him membership of the Conservative Treasurers' Group, the second highest rung on the party's donor's ladder, which allows its members access to senior Conservative figures through a series of lunches, receptions and campaign launches.

He was made a Knight Commander of the Papal Order of St. Gregory (KCSG) by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005 and was later was elevated to a Knight Grand Cross of the same Order (GCSG).

In 1999 he launched his own asset management firm, CQS, and has been cited in the press as one of the highest paid people in the City of London. Hintze was ranked No. 5 on Financial News' FN100 Most Influential list in the hedge fund category. CQS Asset Management, which has been described as "one of the world's leading credit market players" has assets under management reported at $11 billion. The CQS Directional Opportunities Fund, which is managed by Hintze, was ranked #3 on Bloomberg's list of the 100 top-performing large hedge funds for 2012.

Moving to New York to train in financial services, he worked for Salomon Brothers as a fixed income trader and at Credit Suisse First Boston. Relocating to London with them, he then joined Goldman Sachs, where his ultimate position was Co-head of the UK Shares Product. He left the firm in 1995.

Raised by his secretary mother in Sydney, he was educated at St Leo's College Wahroonga the local Christian Brothers school. He then studied at the University of Sydney where he obtained a BSc degree in physics in 1975 and a BE degree in engineering in 1977, residing at St John's College. He also holds an MSc degree in Acoustics from the University of New South Wales, an MBA degree from Harvard Business School, an Honorary Doctorate of Business from the University of New South Wales, and a DEng (honoris causa) from the University of Sydney.

Sir Michael Hintze, GCSG, AM (born 27 July 1953) is a British-Australian businessman, philanthropist and Conservative Party patron, based in the United Kingdom.

After his grandparents fled from Russia after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, he was born in the Chinese city of Harbin. After Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party took over power, his refugee parents left for Australia.