Mike Vranos

Mike Vranos
Michael W. Vranos
Residence Weston, Connecticut
Other names Mike
Education B.A. in mathematics Harvard University, 1983 magna cum laude
Occupation Hedge Fund Manager, Founder; Bond Trader
Employer Kidder Peabody, Ellington Management Group
Title Founder, CEO

Michael W. "Mike" Vranos is an American hedge fund manager and philanthropist who in the 1990s was referred to by some as the "most powerful man on Wall Street."[1] In 1993, he reportedly earned $15 million from trading mortgage bonds.[2] Fortune Magazine once called him "one of the best bond traders on Wall Street."[3] According to a 2007 Wall Street Journal article, he has continued to be regarded as "the best-known mortgage-bond trader on Wall Street."[4]

Vranos headed collateralized mortgage obligation (CMO) trading in the early 1990s at Kidder Peabody at a time when that firm dominated the marketplace.[3] Seizing the opportunity created by a bear market, he left to start his own firm, Ellington Management Group, in late 1994.[3] That same year, Kidder Peabody fell on troubled times and was sold to PaineWebber.[5] In spite of being affected by fall-out from the Long-Term Capital Management debacle in 1998,[6] as of April 2004, Ellington had delivered a composite annualized return of 15.4%, after fees.[7] Ellington continues to market a variety of investment offerings.[8]

Contents

Youth

Vranos was raised in Ellington, Connecticut, United States. In his youth, he worked as a bouncer and earned the title of Mr. Teen Connecticut as a bodybuilder.[9] Mr. Vranos earned his bachelor of arts degree in mathematics from Harvard University in 1983 with both magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors.[3]

Kidder Peabody

Vranos started work at Kidder Peabody after graduation from Harvard in 1983. He was the youngest Managing Director in the 130-year history of Kidder Peabody.[3] During his reign at Kidder Peabody from 1990–1994, Kidder underwrote over $200 billion in CMOs, which was about 20% of all CMOs issued during that period and nearly double the next largest Wall Street firm.[3] Vranos was noted for having turned his collateralized mortgage obligation trading role into a money-making machine.[10] In 1991, Vranos was named Kidder Peabody’s Man of the Year. His 1992 salary was estimated at between $10–15 million.[11]

Kidder Peabody fell on troubled times during the bear market of 1994. Michael Carpenter, the CEO of Kidder from 1989 to 1994 was forced to resign in July 1994.[5] Then, when the number two ranking executive at the firm, Edward A. Cerullo, resigned from Kidder Peabody a few weeks later, Vranos was one of the most watched firm members.[12] During this period, Vranos was highly praised by Jack Welch, chairman of Kidder Peabody’s parent company, General Electric, for his handling of the bear market.[3] However, as market conditions grew more severe, Vranos seized the opportunity to start his own firm in late 1994. Kidder was ultimately sold to Paine Webber.[2]

Ellington Management Group

In late 1994, Vranos founded Ellington Management Group, which grew into a $21 billion company.[3] Ellington was affected by the Long-Term Capital Management debacle in 1998.[2] The firm issued a public statement describing its borrowings to quell public fears, which was quite unusual for hedge funds at the time.[6] It clarified that although it was meeting margin calls by unloading hundreds of millions of dollars in assets over a two day period, losses were limited.[13] According to one report, some of his hedge funds lost around 25% of their value as he liquidated $2 billion in assets.[8] However, the funds recovered quickly, and from its December 1994 inception through April 2004, the firm delivered a composite annualized return of 15.4%, after fees.[7]

In 2000, Ellington bid unsuccessfully on Laser Mortgage Management Inc., a mortgage real estate investment trust that was considering closing.[14]

In October 2007 one of his funds was again caught by the markets when it fell 22%, while the average hedge fund was up around 10% year-to-date.[4] Ellington suspended redemptions from the fund.[15] As of 2007, Vranos and Ellington Management managed $5.4 billion in hedge funds and private accounts, and an additional $1.2 billion in a managed account, while also managing almost $23 billion in collateralized debt obligations[8]

In June 2007, Vranos launched a private placement of a new entity, Ellington Financial LLC, to institutional investors.[8] The company aimed to specialize in subprime mortgages, and the offering statement was dated for July 12, 2007. The deal was underwriten by Friedman Billings Ramsey and although originally slated for a $750 million offering,[8] evolving market conditions only allowed for a $250 million capital raise.[4] Before the private placement, a New York Times columnist noted that a portion of the private placement might be used to purchase risky tranches from bankrupt subprime lender New Century Financial Corporation and noted the potential difficulty in valuing such instruments.[8]

Personal

Vranos currently lives in Weston, Connecticut. In 2001, Slate.com finance columnist Rob Walker and alternative cartoonist Josh Neufeld featured Vranos in their comic book, Titans of Finance (Alternative Comics, 2001, ISBN 1891867059).[16] [17]

Vranos has supported both Christopher Dodd and Barack Obama on the Democratic side and Rudy Giuliani on the Republican side of the 2008 Presidential Election.[18]

Vranos has been active in charitable work and in 2007 was the recipient of the Lifetime Award for Caring from Hedge Funds Care, a charity supported by the hedge fund industry.[19] Vranos serves on the Board of Directors of Boys and Girls Harbor, the East Harlem School, Hedge Funds Care, and the Stamford Shelter for the Homeless.[3]

In 1981, Vranos was declared Mr. Teen Connecticut in the state's bodybuilding championships, and he became known as "Captain Iron" in bodybuilding circles.[20] Vranos is known for breaking up business meetings to issue armwrestling challenges.[5]

Notes

  1. ^ Seremet, Patricia (2004-02-17). "Lea's Valentine Ball, A Living Love Letter For Leukemia Research". The Hartford Courant. Lea's Foundation. http://www.leasfoundation.org/press.html. Retrieved 2007-12-10. [dead link]
  2. ^ a b c Reed Abelson (1998-10-13). "THE MARKETS: Market Place; Still Another Hedge Fund Seems to Be in Financial Peril". The New York Times Company. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E07E1DD173AF930A25753C1A96E958260. Retrieved 2007-12-09. 
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Ellington: An Experienced and Successful Team". Ellington Management Group, L.L.C.. http://www.ellington.com/team.html. Retrieved 2007-12-09. 
  4. ^ a b c Zuckerman, Gregory (2007-12-06). "Vranos May Try to Reopen Ellington Credit Fund". The Wall Street Journal Online. Dow Jones & Company, Inc.. http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119690826229115376.html. Retrieved 2007-12-09. 
  5. ^ a b c Pare, Terence P. (1994-09-05). "JACK WELCH'S NIGHTMARE ON WALL STREET The Welch legacy will be scarred by the management fiasco at Kidder Peabody. Here is General Electric's brutal lesson in how not to run a business.". Fortune Magazine. Cable News Network. http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1994/09/05/79703/index.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-10. 
  6. ^ a b Abelson, Reed (1998-10-18). "INVESTING: DIARY; Pssst. . .We Have No Problems At This Hedge Fund. Really.". The New York Times Company. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9404E5D61E3AF93BA25753C1A96E958260. Retrieved 2007-12-09. 
  7. ^ a b "Ellington's Vranos Says He Won't Crash Again Amid Rate Increase". Bloomberg News. 2004-06-29. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=nifea&&sid=af0p0runDaRE. Retrieved 2009-08-30. 
  8. ^ a b c d e f Morgenson, Gretchen (2007-07-22). "Mr. Vranos Has a Deal for You". The New York Times Company. http://select.nytimes.com/2007/07/22/business/yourmoney/22gret.html?_r=1&oref=slogin. Retrieved 2007-12-10. 
  9. ^ Neufeld, Josh and R. Walker (2000-03-04). "Titans of Finance: The V-Man (fram 2)". TheStreet.com. http://www.thestreet.com/tsc/editorial/images/weekender/comics/vman/frame2.html. Retrieved 2007-12-09. 
  10. ^ Nasar, Sylvia with Douglas Frantz (1994-06-05). "Derailment On Wall Street -- A special report.; Fallen Bond Trader Sees Himself As an Outsider and a Scapegoat (page 4)". The New York Times Company. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980CE1DD163AF936A35755C0A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=4. Retrieved 2007-12-09. 
  11. ^ Kadlec, Daniel (1994-03-04). "PAY DIRT ON WALL STREET - Good times, big bonuses are back". USA Today. Newsbank. http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:NewsBank:USTB&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=0EB7720217CEE9CE&svc_dat=InfoWeb:aggregated5&req_dat=0D0CB579A3BDA420. Retrieved 2008-12-18. 
  12. ^ Nasar, Sylvia (1994-07-23). "Kidder's No. 2 Executive Quits (page 2)". The New York Times Company. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9403E0DF1539F930A15754C0A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2. Retrieved 2007-12-09. 
  13. ^ "Hedge Fund Firm Says It Covered Its Losses". The New York Times Company. 1998-10-18. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9500E1DE1F3DF937A15753C1A96E958260. Retrieved 2007-12-09. 
  14. ^ "REIT Considers Closing". The New York Times Company. 2000-10-06. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9903E4DB173CF935A35753C1A9669C8B63. Retrieved 2007-12-10. 
  15. ^ Pulliam, Susan, Randall Smith and Michael Siconolfi (2007-10-12). "U.S. Investors Face An Age of Murky Pricing". The Wall Street Journal Online. Dow Jones & Company, Inc.. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119214581308956665.html. Retrieved 2007-12-10. 
  16. ^ "Titans of Finance: True Tales of Money & Business". Amazon.com, Inc.. 2007. http://www.amazon.com/dp/1891867059. Retrieved 2007-12-10. 
  17. ^ McGeehan, Patrick (2001-06-03). "Private Sector; Dumbed Down on Wall St.: Junk Finance, With Pictures". The New York Times Company. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9907E2DC173FF930A35755C0A9679C8B63. Retrieved 2007-12-10. 
  18. ^ "The Huffington Post's Fundrace2008". HuffingtonPost.com, Inc.. http://fundrace.huffingtonpost.com/neighbors.php?type=loc&addr=34+OLD+EASTON+TURNPIKE&zip=6883. Retrieved 2007-12-10. 
  19. ^ "Speaker Pelosi to Address HFC Benefit". Reuters HedgeWorld.com. 2007-01-29. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-10026827.html. Retrieved 2009-08-30. 
  20. ^ "Feature: Michael Vranos". Muscle Up 4 (15): 17–18. February 1982. ISSN 0279-2990. 

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