Independent – Driving past a church, I notice people flocking to that morning’s event: a “patriotic singalong with ice cream”. I turn into the village high street, where old-fashioned, pith-helmetedtraffic cops stand at every intersection, in lieu of vulgar traffic lights.
No wonder, when we park, my host feels safe enough to leave all the windows open in his brand-new Lexus. After the usual Perrier and salad business lunch we pause at the windows of the latest village shop, Tiffany’s. Welcome to Greenwich, Connecticut – hedge fund wonderland.
In the past 20 years, the hedge fund high rollers – with their various complex strategies, their leverage and their short selling of stocks – have become the dominant force in nearly every market. Greenwich is their capital.
It is estimated that over 10 per cent of the global industry is now controlled from this once-sleepy commuter town. New York trains reverse the traditional traffic, with young city slickers who choose to live in Manhattan crowding the outbound trains each morning. Nearly 70 per cent of Greenwich office space is now occupied by hedge fund managers, with rents rising way beyond midtown Manhattan prices.
