European Hedge Fund Galas Raise Over $500.000

HedgeCo Archives - More than 250 hedge-fund industry leaders gathered together to raise nearly £250,000 ($400,000) at the 100 Women in Hedge Funds 2009 London Charity Gala, held yesterday evening in the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office’s magnificent Locarno Suite. All proceeds from the event went to SHINE, the UK Support and Help in Education charity.

This follows a spectacular event on 29th September attended by 250 guests from the hedge fund industry in Geneva and beyond in an 18th century mansion overlooking the lake of Geneva, where the 100 Women in Hedge Funds 2009 Geneva Charity Gala raised SFr135,000 ($130,000) for local education charity Association Païdos.

The combined sum of £332,000 ($533,000) raised for these two charities will make a material difference to their work. In the case of SHINE it should be sufficient to fund for an entire year two new SHINE on Saturday programmes, for which there is a queue of eligible, eager participants. For Païdos, it will be able to more than double the number of children accepted onto its "Getting Back into Learning" classroom project.

Sarah Brown, wife of the UK Prime Minister, and a SHINE Patron, said, "Hundreds of young people will benefit from your generosity. For example, children with special educational needs will receive specialised individual tuition to help develop their reading, writing and math skills. For children who are disengaged or simply underachieving, SHINE’s Saturday programmes enrich the school curriculum, making learning fresh, new and exciting. Other SHINE-funded programmes stretch bright teenagers from low income families, to encourage them to raise their horizons and redouble their efforts."

Each year the Association honours an individual in Europe whose achievements are an extraordinary example of success in the hedge fund industry. In 2009, 100 Women in Hedge Funds awarded its European Industry Leadership Award to Mina Gerowin, Managing Director of Paulson Europe and a Partner of Paulson & Co.

"Mina is an exemplary leader at Paulson and in our industry at large," said Effie Datson, Chair of the Board of 100 Women in Hedge Funds. "We are honouring her in recognition of her professional talent, business ethics and demonstration of the kind of passion and dedication that define the hedge fund industry’s standard of excellence."

Ms. Gerowin specializes in European merger and event-driven investment, including directing European activist positions, distressed and restructuring investment and risk arbitrage of both debt and equity. At Paulson, she has led investments such as Stork and Ahold and runs some of the largest positions in their book. As evidence of how highly esteemed she is by her Paulson colleagues, many joined in honouring her at the Gala.

As this year’s theme for 100 Women in Hedge Funds philanthropic efforts globally is education, next month 100 Women in Hedge Funds will be hosting a New York City Gala on November 18th in aid of Computers for Youth.