Cornwall Capital is a New York City-based private financial

investment corporation An investment company is a financial institution principally engaged in holding, managing and investing securities. These companies in the United States are regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and must be registered under th ...

. It was founded in 2003 by Jamie Mai,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and

Chief Investment Officer The chief investment officer (CIO) is a job title for the board level head of investments within an organization. The CIO's purpose is to understand, manage, and monitor their organization's portfolio of assets, devise strategies for growth, act as ...

, under the guidance of his father, Vincent Mai, who ran the private equity firm

AEA Investors AEA Investors is an American middle market private equity firm. The firm focuses on leveraged buyout, growth capital, and mezzanine capital investments in manufacturing, service, distribution, specialty chemicals, consumer product, and busines ...

, one of the oldest leveraged buyout firms in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

.All geek to them: A handful of outsiders come out of the crisis in credit
''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

'', Mar 18th 2010.Hardy Green
"Michael Lewis’ Big Short an unsettling experience"
Reuters, March 11, 2010. It was profiled in the book ''

The Big Short ''The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine'' is a nonfiction book by Michael Lewis about the build-up of the United States housing bubble during the 2000s. It was released on March 15, 2010, by W. W. Norton & Company. It spent 28 weeks on '' ...

'' by

Michael Lewis Michael Monroe Lewis (born October 15, 1960) Gale Biography In Context. is an American author and financial journalist. He has also been a contributing editor to ''Vanity Fair'' since 2009, writing mostly on business, finance, and economics. He ...

as one of a handful of investors in the world that correctly foresaw and profited from the subprime mortgage crisis of 2007.

. ''

'', W. W. Norton, 2010. In addition, James Mai's investment strategy was portrayed by Jack D. Schwager in the book ''Hedge Fund Market Wizards'' (2012), an inside analysis of the world's greatest hedge fund experts and the strategies that they implement. They were featured in the film adaptation of ''

'', fictionalized with the names Charlie Geller, Jamie Shipley and Ben Rickert (played by

John Magaro John Robert Magaro (born February 16, 1983) is an American actor. He starred in '' Not Fade Away'' (2012). He also had roles in ''The Big Short'', '' Carol'' (2015) and the Netflix series ''Orange Is the New Black'' and ''The Umbrella Academy''. ...

Finn Wittrock Peter L. Wittrock Jr. (born October 28, 1984), known as Finn Wittrock, is an US actor and screenwriter who began his career in guest roles on several television shows. He made his film debut in 2004, in ''Halloweentown High'' before returning to f ...

and Brad Pitt). This has resulted in them being widely known for their investments running up to the financial crash in 2007–08.

History

The firm started as a family office to diversify the capital of James Mai's father. Soon after Cornwall's inception, Charlie Ledley, a former

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...

colleague, joined the firm. In 2005, Ben Hockett joined as head trader, bringing extensive knowledge of capital markets, derivatives, and fixed income trading. Charlie Ledley left Cornwall in 2009 to join a large Boston-based hedge fund. Ben Hockett has remained at the firm as the head trader and

chief risk officer The chief risk officer (CRO) or chief risk management officer (CRMO) or chief risk and compliance officer (CRCO) of a firm or corporation is the executive accountable for enabling the efficient and effective governance of significant risks, and re ...

. Other senior members include partners JC de Swaan and Ian Haft. Cornwall seeks highly asymmetric investments, in which the upside potential significantly exceeds the downside risk, across a broad spectrum of strategies ranging from trades that seek to benefit from market inefficiencies to thematic fundamental trades. The firm has produced an average annual compounded net return of 40 percent (52 percent gross). Cornwall Capital was one of a few investors who saw and shorted the subprime mortgage crisis market prior to the 2007 collapse; according to Michael Lewis, they were perhaps one out of 20 in the world who did so. This particular trade generated 80 times the initial premium (investment). The founders of Cornwall Capital started a hedge fund in their garage with $110,000 and built it into $120 million when the market crashed. James Mai decided to open up the fund to a few like-minded investors with whom he could be transparent and share ideas, starting in May 2011. Cornwall Capital was reported to have become in 2013 the largest shareholder of chemicals manufacturer American Pacific Corporation, a NASDAQ listed US company, with close to 15% of the outstanding stock. American Pacific Corporation agreed to nominate Ian Haft for election to its board of directors in order to resolve a potential

proxy contest A proxy fight, proxy contest or proxy battle (sometimes even called a proxy war) is an unfriendly contest for the control over an organization. The event usually occurs when a corporation's stockholders develop opposition to some aspect of the corp ...

. The company was sold to H.I.G. Capital in January 2014.

Notes

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External links

Cornwall Capital
official website.
All geek to them: A handful of outsiders come out of the crisis in credit
''

'', Mar 18th 2010. Financial services companies established in 2003 Investment companies based in New York City American companies established in 2003 2003 establishments in New York City 2003 establishments in the United States Companies established in 2003