TGS Management
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Frederick Taylor
- David Gelbaum
- Andrew Shechtel
 | |
| Company type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Investment management |
| Founded | 1989 |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | , |
| Products | Hedge funds Quantitative finance |
| Website | www |
TGS Management (TGS) is an American quantitative investment management firm founded in 1989 that has offices in Irvine, California and Princeton, New Jersey.[2] It is known to maintain a very low profile.
In 1989, TGS was founded by Frederick Taylor, David Gelbaum and Andrew Shechtel.[3][4][5] The name of the firm comes from the starting letters of its three founders' surnames.[5] The three of them previously worked at Princeton-Newport Partners (PNP), the world's first quantitative hedge fund that was founded in 1969 by Edward O. Thorp.[3][5][6] In December 1988, PNP closed due to financial burdens imposed by a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act investigation.[3][5][6] The three founders of TGS were not accused of any wrongdoing and after they started TGS, they kept many former PNP employees and investors.[3]
When TGS started trading, it pursued a form of statistical arbitrage and within a few years, it had made enough to return money to most of its outside investors.[3][4] As it no longer needed to solicit outsiders for capital, the firm had more flexibility on pursuing its own investment strategies without needing to disclose them.[3][4] In late 1990s, TGS briefly appeared in the news where it mounted an arbitrage campaign against several closed-end funds under the Scottish Investment Trust.[3][7] At least one fund was forced to dissolve leading to the British media dubbing the firm a "secretive U.S. vulture fund".[3][7] At the time TGS was operating under the name Sierra Trading Group, L.P.[7][8]
The Real Deal reported that TGS has been acquiring land and office space in Irvine.[9] As of February 2023, TGS owns more than 60 acres in Irvine.[9]
TGS is known to be highly selective and hires individuals from quantitative backgrounds which include software engineers and PhDs.[3][4] In 2023, The Wall Street Journal reported that TGS outbid Renaissance Technologies and Citadel LLC to hire an International Mathematical Olympiad gold medalist for $700,000 a year.[10] In 2024, the tech compensation platform Levels reported that TGS Management was one of the top ranked employers for software engineer salaries, paying new graduates around $500,000 per year.[11]
Charity
Bloomberg News reported that the founders of TGS have been donating large sums of money away to charity anonymously.[3][5] This was done by making use of many different subsidiaries under TGS to hide the source of funds.[3] Donations include finding a cure for Huntington's disease.[3][5]
