The activist investor who has tried to shake up Rio Tinto paid himself more than $1 million last year after profits at his $1.4 billion hedge fund almost doubled.
The figures cement the comeback staged by James Smith, who spent almost 20 years at the activist fund Elliott Management before leaving in 2020 and founding his own firm, the London-based Palliser Capital.
Palliser has quickly established a reputation as a force to be reckoned with, having built a stake in the FTSE 100 mining company Rio Tinto and unsuccessfully called on the commodities group to scrap its primary London listing and make Australia its main stock market quote.
Palliser failed to force through a review of Rio Tinto’s dual-listing structure
IAN WALDIE/BLOOMBERG/GETTY IMAGES
Accounts recently filed by Palliser at Companies House show that its pre-tax profits last year surged to $6.6 million from $3.5 million in 2023.
It paid its sole director, Smith, $1.2 million for last year, the figures showed. It also distributed a $631,265 dividend, most of which will have gone to Smith because he owns the majority of the business.
The results give a glimpse into the workings of Palliser, which is one of a number of firms founded in recent years by a string of former top Elliott employees who made their names at the American group.
Elliott oversees more than $76 billion in assets and is regarded as one of the world’s most aggressive and successful activist hedge funds. It invests in companies and then calls on management to shake up strategies to boost returns, sometimes by agitating for a business to sell itself or pursue a break-up.
Smith joined Elliott as an analyst and rose through its ranks to become the head of the firm’s Hong Kong office before setting up on his own. Although Palliser, which now oversees assets of $1.4 billion, failed to win enough support from other shareholders to force through a review of Rio Tinto’s dual-listing structure at the miner’s annual meeting in March, it succeeded in 2023 with a campaign to block a takeover of the London-listed oil producer Capricorn Energy. It also recently built a stake in WH Smith and called on the American travel booking group Tripadvisor to consider selling itself.
The accounts show that Palliser paid its 17 employees, who include other former Elliott staff, a combined $11 million in wages last year.
A spokeswoman for Palliser declined to comment.