Highbridge Capital Management: Building a Sustainable Organization

By Julia Bator, Michael Brimm, Victoria Chang, Roderick Kramer
2010 | Case No. OB77
In 2010 Glenn Dubin reflected upon the enduring organization and culture he and co-founder Henry Swieca had infused into Highbridge Capital Management over the course of almost two decades Since the firm’s launch in 1992, New York-based Highbridge had grown to become a diversified investment platform comprising hedge funds, traditional asset management products, and credit and equity investments with longer-term holding periods. The company employed more than 315 people at offices in New York, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo, and managed $21 billion for prominent institutional investors, public and corporate pension funds, endowments, foundations and family offices. Highbridge was known by many on Wall Street as a “benchmark,” largely due to the firm’s investment performance and to the diversity and dynamism of the organization. Investors had come to rely on Highbridge’s consistent returns and attention to risk management. The firm comprised a group of gifted, committed professionals as a result of Dubin’s longtime focus on talent, nurturing a culture of collaboration, building a sophisticated risk management and technology platform, and maintaining a robust operating infrastructure. In 2009, J.P. Morgan completed its purchase of Highbridge—a strategic partnership the two organizations began in 2004 when J.P. Morgan Asset Management purchased a majority interest in the firm. In 2010, Dubin described his desired impact on the increasingly complex and sophisticated organization: “I hope that my legacy will be a bigger and more diversified Highbridge—but one that has the same culture and core principles of excellence, staffed with individuals with high integrity and an interest in successful collaboration. This is the only way I know to ensure that our initial goal of creating an organization that can outlive its founders will be achieved.”
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