Barron’s – Hedge-fund manager Christian Zugel has made a mint in mortgage-backed securities, and he has also been wheeling and dealing in a lot of real estate. He has had to figure out how to fit a growing staff of 73 into a renovated garment factory, originally built by a grandfather of former Disney Chairman Michael Eisner near the Jersey shore in the town of Red Bank. Zugel also has moved into bigger quarters in London’s Hanover Square, and is in the process of doubling his space in Shanghai, so his firm, Zais Group, can broaden its research and investor base around the world.
Zugel’s flagship fund, the $462 million Zais Opportunity fund, is No. 1 on Barron’s Hedge Fund 100 ranking for the second consecutive year, the first time any fund has posted back-to-back wins in the eight-year history of our tally. Playing a variety of mortgage- and asset-backed securities as well as collateralized loans, the Stuttgart, Germany, native, 53, posted remarkable three-year annualized returns north of 50% through Dec. 31, 2012, nearly five times better than the Standard & Poor’s 500 and 13 times better than the average hedge-fund return in that time. His firm oversees $5.4 billion in all.
