 | |
 Headquarters at 7Clifford Street | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Hedge fund |
| Founded | 2003; 22 years ago (2003) |
| Founder | Chris Hohn |
| Headquarters | , |
| AUM | US$ 70 billion (as of August 1, 2025)[1] |
| Website | www |
The Children's Investment Fund Management (TCI) is a Britishhedge fund management firm founded byChris Hohn in 2003 which manages the Children's Investment Master Fund. TCI makes long‐term investments in companies globally.
It is the 2nd largest United Kingdom based hedge fund and the 6th largest in the World. With $70 billion in AUM (assets under management) and has been a consistently growing force in the hedge fund investment industry for the last two decades.
The management company is authorized and regulated in the United Kingdom by theFinancial Conduct Authority. Its holding company is TCI Fund Management Limited, based in theCayman Islands. TCI derives its name from a charitable foundation calledthe Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), set up bySir Chris Hohn and his ex-wife, Jamie Cooper-Hohn, and initially contributed a proportion of profits to the foundation.
In January 2022, TCI was named by the Guardian as the world's top-performing hedge fund. It is known as one of the most aggressive activist investors.[2]
Like most hedge funds, TCI requires investors to commit their capital for multi-year periods. This long-term horizon allows the fund greater flexibility when trading and investing capital independent of any potential ad hoc time constraints.
TCI derives its name fromthe Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), a charitable foundation set up by Chris Hohn and his ex-wife, Jamie Cooper-Hohn. In an example of "venture philanthropy", CIFF initially received a portion of TCI's profits and other donations. CIFF focuses on improving the lives of children living in poverty in developing countries, and has grown to be one of the largest charities in the United Kingdom. After suffering a 43% loss during the 2008 calendar year, as of July 2009 the previous financial year had seen a rebound of over 70% profit and revenue for TCI.[3]
Through changes set in motion in 2012, the fund and foundation were split up. The fund no longer donates money to the foundation on a contractual basis, though it has done so on a discretionary basis.[4]
TCI has a reputation for aggressiveshareholder activism.[5] TCI has been a major shareholder of the Germanstock exchangeDeutsche Börse where it forced the resignation of the CEO after he refused to abandon his plan to take over theLondon Stock Exchange.
In 2007, after acquiring 1% of the shares of major Dutch bankABN AMRO, TCI led an attack demanding the bank split up or sell to the highest bidder to produce shareholder value.[6] ABN was ultimately split and sold toRoyal Bank of Scotland (RBS),Fortis, andBanco Santander and was a major contributing factor in the downfall of both RBS and Fortis. In June 2007, TCI failed in its attempt to get the Japanese utilityJ-Power, in which it had acquired a 10% stake, to boost its dividend. The general meeting of shareholders rejected the proposal, prompting a severe selloff in the stock.[citation needed]
In 2006, as a shareholder of bothMittal Steel Company andArcelor, TCI supported Mittal Steel in the company'sunsolicited takeover offer for Arcelor.[7]
TCI initiated legal action against the Government of India using provisions in the bilateral trade treaty betweenUnited Kingdom andIndia regarding the under pricing of coal byCoal India Limited, in which TCI holds a 1% stake.[8]
In 2008 the US railroad companyCSX won a court case against the Children's Investment Fund and 3G Capital Partners, another hedge fund, after the funds announced that they had acquired about 20% of CSX's stock.[9] TCI succeeded in electing four of its five directors to the CSX board, but CSX shares declined by about 50 percent after the meeting. TCI declared defeat and sold its shares, taking its directors off the board. Chris Hohn, the founder of TCI vowed to abandon shareholder activism as an investing strategy.[10] When the case was appealed, the judge gave limited support for the original finding.
In 2008 the company was suffering from heavy losses but recovered very well and assets under management reportedly stood around $6 billion. At the end of 2010, the company recorded a loss of 80% in profits as a result of reduced investment performance.[11] By 2020 the hedge fund was managing more than $30 billion. It recorded a 41% gain in 2019 after gaining just 0.9% in 2018.[12]
In November 2022, Chris Hohn on behalf of TCI wrote an open letter toSundar Pichai, CEO ofAlphabet andGoogle.[13][14] In the letter, Hohn stated that Google's headcount was too high and should be reduced.[13][14] He also stated that there should be more effort to reduce losses in its self-driving unitWaymo.[13][14] On 20 January 2023 Alphabet cut 12,000 jobs which was 6% of its workforce.[15] On the same day, Hohn issued another letter to Pichai stating that there should be further job cuts with a target of 20%.[15]
The fund won Eurohedge's European Hedge Fund of the Year award in 2004, 2005,[16] and 2013.[17]
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