Children's Investment Fund Foundation charity hits $4.4bn after strong year

According to documents published at Companies House, CIFF’s net assets grew from $3.7bn to $4.35bn in the year ending 31 August

A charity set up by the billionaire hedge fund manager Sir Chris Hohn and his former wife Jamie Cooper-Hohn saw the value of assets under its control swell to $4.4bn (£3bn) last year.

The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) was set up more than a decade ago to “tackle preventable deaths, illness, abuse and malnutrition”. It has received more than $2bn in donations from Sir Chris’ hedge fund, the Children’s Investment Fund (TCI), during this time but has also grown by investing its own money.

According to documents published at Companies House, CIFF’s net assets grew from $3.7bn to $4.35bn in the year ending 31 August, even though Sir Chris cut its charitable donations after getting divorced from his wife last year. Instead its assets were boosted by a net investment return of 19.2 per cent on its portfolio of assets, which include UK and overseas equities. This is managed by TCI, which was paid $63.6m in fees.

Jamie Cooper-Hohn was awarded £337m by a High Court judge last year in Britain’s biggest ever divorce settlement, dwarfing even the famous £220m paid in 2011 by the late Russian oligarch, Boris Berezovsky, to his ex-wife Galina Besharova. During his divorce proceedings in July, Sir Chris told the Family Division of the High Court that he had decided he no longer wanted to give money to the CIFF.

He has since set up a new charity, The CH Foundation (UK), which is aimed at helping alleviate poverty and the effects of human trafficking and organised crime in the Indian subcontinent. It also aims to promote health and education in Jamaica, where his father, who worked as car mechanic, was born.

“Although the foundation no longer relies on donations from Jamie and Sir Chris, they are deeply involved in CIFF’s work as active trustees who take a strong personal interest in shaping key investments in CIFF’s granting portfolio,” CIFF’S annual report said.

“[In 2014] there was significant growth of the portfolio of grants to a value in excess of half a billion dollars. Working in partnership with governments, businesses, international and local NGOs, other foundations and donors, universities, activists and others, is a crucial part of the way CIFF operates.”

Overall, CIFF committed $153.8m to “charitable activities” last year.

Among the recent successes it claims to have is a programme treating malnutrition in Nigeria. It says 251,314 children aged under five years old and suffering from Severe Acute Malnutrition were treated in a partnership with the country’s ministry of health and UNICEF.

Away from the charity, Sir Chris is best known for his aggressive investment style that once led to him being described as a “locust” by German politicians. TCI emerged as the largest private shareholder in Royal Mail following its controversial stock market flotation in 2013.

The charity was chaired by Ms Cooper-Hohn until last year, but according to the report, she has now been replaced by former Government minister Mark Malloch Brown. She remains a trustee alongside Sir Chris.