Richard Andrew Deitz (born August 12, 1965) is an American

investment manager Investment management (sometimes referred to more generally as financial asset management) is the professional asset management of various securities, including shareholdings, bonds, and other assets, such as real estate, to meet specified inve ...

. He is the founder and president of London-based investment firm VR Capital Group.

Early life and education

Deitz was born in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

and attended public school in

Montgomery County, Maryland Montgomery County is the most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, the county's population was 1,062,061, increasing by 9.3% from 2010. The county seat is Rockville, Maryland ...

. He studied history and economics at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

where he graduated ''

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' in 1987.

Career

After graduating from Yale, he began his career in finance specializing in fixed income derivatives at The First Boston Corporation. Deitz remained with the firm in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

upon its takeover by

Credit Suisse Credit Suisse Group AG (, ) was a global Investment banking, investment bank and financial services firm founded and based in Switzerland. According to UBS, eventually Credit Suisse was to be fully integrated into UBS. While the integration ...

, becoming managing director at Credit Suisse Financial Products in 1993. In 1994, he moved to London and then Moscow to establish the derivatives unit's presence in Eastern Europe. In 1995, Deitz left Credit Suisse together with several colleagues to co-found the investment bank,

Renaissance Capital Renaissance Capital is an emerging and frontier markets focused investment bank founded in 1995 in Russia. The firm has offices in Moscow, London, New York, Lagos, Nairobi, Cairo and Nicosia. Both Alexander Provotorov (born 7 November 1974, M ...

, in Moscow where he ran the firm's fixed income trading business. In 1998, Deitz left Renaissance Capital and founded VR Capital Group to build an asset management business focused on distressed debt investing. The firm launched a fund in May 1999 initially investing in distressed credits in Russia and the former Soviet Union following the

1998 Russian financial crisis The Russian financial crisis (also called the ruble crisis or the Russian flu) began in Russia on 17 August 1998. It resulted in the Russian government and the Russian Central Bank devaluing the Russian rouble, ruble and sovereign default, defau ...

and the demise of

Long Term Capital Management Long-Term Capital Management L.P. (LTCM) was a highly leveraged hedge fund. In 1998, it received a $3.6 billion bailout from a group of 14 banks, in a deal brokered and put together by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. LTCM was founded in 1 ...

. VR Capital has become known for investing into countries undergoing high levels of macroeconomic stress and working with sovereign and corporate debtors to restructure their balance sheets and regain access to capital markets. VR Capital invested heavily in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

following the

sovereign default A sovereign default is the failure or refusal of the government of a sovereign state to pay back its debt in full when due. Cessation of due payments (or receivables) may either be accompanied by that government's formal declaration that it wil ...

and currency devaluation in 2001, and likewise was a major investor in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

in 2012 and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

in 2014. Its flagship fund, VR Global Partners, L.P., had

assets under management In finance, assets under management (AUM), sometimes called fund under management, refers to the total market value of all financial assets that a financial institution—such as a mutual fund, venture capital firm, or depository institutio ...

of approximately US$4.4 billion at the end of 2017 and was cited by

Barron's ''Barron's'' (stylized in all caps) is an American weekly magazine and newspaper published by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corp, since 1921. Founded as ''Barron's National Financial Weekly'' in 1921 by Clarence W. Barron (1855–19 ...

in June 2016 for its performance over the past decade. The fund's offshore version was named "Fund of the Year" at the HFM US Hedge Fund Performance Awards 2017 and won the "Distressed" category at the EuroHedge Awards 2017. The fund's offshore version also walked away as the winner of the “Credit over $500m” category at the HFM European Hedge Fund Performance Awards 2018. In May 2016, Deitz was a speaker at the 21st annual Sohn Investment Conference in New York where he articulated the firm's investment thesis on Greek government bonds and banks. He has also written op-ed columns on Argentine and Greek

debt restructuring Debt restructuring is a process that allows a private or public company or a sovereign entity facing cash flow problems and financial distress to reduce and renegotiate its delinquent debts to improve or restore liquidity so that it can continu ...

Personal life

Deitz lives in London and is married to Marina Nacheva. They have three children. Deitz serves on the President's Council on International Activities and on the Jackson Institute Council at Yale University. Deitz's family have been sponsors of

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

research at the

Yale Child Study Center The Yale Child Study Center is a department at the Yale University School of Medicine. The center conducts research and provides clinical services and medical training related to children and families. Topics of investigation include autism and r ...

. Deitz is a co-owner of

EuroLeague Basketball Euroleague Basketball, run by Euroleague Commercial Assets (ECA), is a private company that runs and operates men's professional basketball club competitions in Europe, the first-tier level EuroLeague, and the second-tier level EuroCup. It has ...

team

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such as football, basketball, j ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Deitz, Richard American hedge fund managers 1965 births Yale College alumni Living people