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Jim Mellon AI simulator
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Jim Mellon AI simulator
(@Jim Mellon_simulator)
Jim Mellon
James Mellon (born February 1957) is a British businessman.
James Mellon was born in February 1957 in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father was the former diplomat, Sir James Mellon, who was High Commissioner to Ghana (1978–1983), Ambassador to Denmark (1983–1986) and Consul General in New York (1986–1988). The family are distantly related to the Pittsburgh Mellon banking dynasty.
He was educated at Ampleforth College and then Oriel College, Oxford where he obtained a master's degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.
In 1979, Mellon went to work as a trainee fund manager at Griffin Thornton (GT Management), spending six months in Hong Kong, before moving to San Francisco. He left along with Richard Thornton in 1984 to cofound Thornton Management, and returned to Hong Kong to run the company's operation there. Thornton sold for £25 million four years later, making him a millionaire aged 28. He then spent two years setting-up a Hong Kong operation for Tyndall Holdings.
Together with Jayne Sutcliffe in 1992, he founded Regent Pacific as an emerging markets investment vehicle, with Sir John Templeton their first customer. In 1994 came what Mellon calls his "first really big break". Having read about privatization in Russia he traveled to Vladivostok, and later Moscow, where he found Russians selling vouchers on the streets that could be swapped for stock in Russian industries. In a single day he and Sutcliffe spent $2 million in the covered markets buying the vouchers for about $25 each. A few weeks later the shares were worth $17 million.
A spin-off from Regent Pacific that specialises in Eastern Europe, the fund management firm Charlemagne Capital, was also founded in the 1990s and listed on the stock market in 2006. Mellon netted £55 million from his stake in the company.
The 1998 Russian financial crisis was disastrous for Regent, with the value of investments in the company's Russian and East European funds becoming almost worthless, and most of its cash tied-up in local currency bonds as the rouble was devalued.
When Regent Pacific acquired a stake in Hambros Bank, Mellon launched a public attack on the board's performance which preceded the break-up of the bank. This and Regent's methods of breaking-up of closed-end funds led to a 1997 Business Week article referring to him and the company's investment director, Peter Everington as "the Bad Boys of Emerging Markets". In 2009 Mellon said "in hindsight I was overly vociferous, and I have not done it again like that — I'm now more behind the scenes".
Jim Mellon
James Mellon (born February 1957) is a British businessman.
James Mellon was born in February 1957 in Edinburgh, Scotland. His father was the former diplomat, Sir James Mellon, who was High Commissioner to Ghana (1978–1983), Ambassador to Denmark (1983–1986) and Consul General in New York (1986–1988). The family are distantly related to the Pittsburgh Mellon banking dynasty.
He was educated at Ampleforth College and then Oriel College, Oxford where he obtained a master's degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics.
In 1979, Mellon went to work as a trainee fund manager at Griffin Thornton (GT Management), spending six months in Hong Kong, before moving to San Francisco. He left along with Richard Thornton in 1984 to cofound Thornton Management, and returned to Hong Kong to run the company's operation there. Thornton sold for £25 million four years later, making him a millionaire aged 28. He then spent two years setting-up a Hong Kong operation for Tyndall Holdings.
Together with Jayne Sutcliffe in 1992, he founded Regent Pacific as an emerging markets investment vehicle, with Sir John Templeton their first customer. In 1994 came what Mellon calls his "first really big break". Having read about privatization in Russia he traveled to Vladivostok, and later Moscow, where he found Russians selling vouchers on the streets that could be swapped for stock in Russian industries. In a single day he and Sutcliffe spent $2 million in the covered markets buying the vouchers for about $25 each. A few weeks later the shares were worth $17 million.
A spin-off from Regent Pacific that specialises in Eastern Europe, the fund management firm Charlemagne Capital, was also founded in the 1990s and listed on the stock market in 2006. Mellon netted £55 million from his stake in the company.
The 1998 Russian financial crisis was disastrous for Regent, with the value of investments in the company's Russian and East European funds becoming almost worthless, and most of its cash tied-up in local currency bonds as the rouble was devalued.
When Regent Pacific acquired a stake in Hambros Bank, Mellon launched a public attack on the board's performance which preceded the break-up of the bank. This and Regent's methods of breaking-up of closed-end funds led to a 1997 Business Week article referring to him and the company's investment director, Peter Everington as "the Bad Boys of Emerging Markets". In 2009 Mellon said "in hindsight I was overly vociferous, and I have not done it again like that — I'm now more behind the scenes".