Jackson Library

Global Speakers Series : William F. Browder: Additional Reading

Thursday, October 22, 2009
Global Speakers Series

William F. Browder
Founder and CEO, Hermitage Capital Management

 

Mr. William F. Browder is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hermitage Capital Management Limited. He started Hermitage Capital Management in 1996 in partnership with the late Edmond Safra. Under Mr. Browder’s leadership, the Hermitage Fund has produced total shareholder returns of 2,549%, compared to 1,417% for the CSFB ROS Index. Among other awards, it has been ranked the World’s Best Performing Emerging Markets Fund over a five-year period by Nelsons from 1996 ... to 2001. He is a leading shareholder rights activist and outspoken fighter for better corporate governance in Russia. Mr. Browder has been credited with a number of breakthroughs in improving corporate standards at major Russian companies, including Unified Energy Systems, Sberbank and Gazprom. He also spearheaded radical changes in Russian corporate law, including the creation of pre-emptive rights for all minority shareholders in Russian companies as well as the introduction of cumulative voting for director elections. Mr. Browder serves as Chairman of the Russia Task Force for the Institute of International Finance and is a member of the OECD/World Bank Roundtable on Corporate Governance in Russia. He was named a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, received a 2004 Industry Achievement Award by Global Fund Analysis, and was named a 2005 “Person to Watch” by the Financial News. Mr. Browder was also named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in Davos in 2005. Prior to starting Hermitage, he was Vice President at Salomon Brothers; where he managed the firm’s proprietary investments in Russia. Before that, Mr. Browder was management consultant with the Eastern European practice of the Boston Consulting Group in London. He received an M.B.A. from Stanford Business School and a B.A. in Economics with highest honors from the University of Chicago.

Selected Articles

Due to contractual arrangements, remote access is only available to the current Stanford community and the subscribers of the "Library Databases" offered through the GSB Alumni's Lifelong Learning Program. Other access is limited to onsite at Jackson Library. Inclusion below does not imply University endorsement of ideas expressed.

Major Investor in Russia Sees Wide Fraud Scheme. New York Times, 7/30/09
William F. Browder, once the largest foreign investor in the Russian stock market, filed court documents in New York this week contending that other Western investors in Russia had colluded with the authorities to steal hundreds of millions of dollars through tax refunds and then laundered the money through New York banks.
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William Browder: Trailbrazer. Institutional Investor, September 2008
An interview with investor and Hermitage Capital Management Ltd. founder William Browder in Russia is presented. When asked about his expansion plan, he relates that they are planning to invest in the six cheapest countries to establish a global investment business. He states that staying in current-account-surplus countries will help them address the volatility in the equity market. He believes that the strategies they are using will help them in achieving success.
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Case of Banned Investor Is Seen As a Test of Russia's Progress. Washington Post, 7/13/06
It speaks volumes about Russia that for most of the past decade the U.S.-born investor and financier William F. Browder was as welcome in Moscow as his grandfather Earl, longtime head of the Communist Party USA, was during the 1920s and '30s.
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A Russian Odyssey. Stanford Business, November 2006
He made a fortune for himself and others in Russia, not to mention enemies. Now Bill Browder is locked out.
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The Best Kept Secret in Moscow? Businessweek, 9/1/97
On a hot summer day in Moscow in 1996, William F. Browder invited one of the largest investors in his fledgling Hermitage Fund to meet the chief executive of a Russian oil holding company.
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GSB Case

Gazprom and Hermitage Capital: Shareholder Activism in Russia

Selected Website

Hermitage Capital Management

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