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Any trader who survives these current markets – among the most turbulent ever – will surely be stronger for the experience.

by Rich Blake. Chris Gillick. Michael Martin. Leah McGrath Goodman

Where Are They Now

30 Under 30: Balkany — Graham

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Julien Balkany

Age: 27

Firm: Nanes Delorme Partners

City: New York

Trades: Equity (activist)

In A year that has closed many hedge funds down, Balkany launched one, successfully. He opened in January with around $30 million; the fund was up 40 percent through the end of June.

Positioned as an activist investor, Nanes Delorme targets publicly traded, small-cap oil-and-gas firms viewed as undervalued and in need of a growth catalyst. “We don’t fight for the sake of fighting,” Balkany explains of his firm’s approach. “Fighting is not always the best way to create alpha. Compromise is.”

Balkany, a native of Paris, says he’s inspired by Warren Lichtenstein (“he’s never lost a proxy fight”) and developed his investing style while working at Pierson Capital, a private-equity shop. Balkany completed his undergraduate studies at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris and has a master’s in finance from Berkeley. He worked at Bear Stearns in Latin American Debt Capital Markets in New York prior to Pierson Capital. He’s the managing partner and CIO and owns 50 percent of the management company. These days, he’s also a managing director at Nanes Delorme Capital Management, a New York–based broker-dealer/financial-advisory firm.

“This is a good market for us,” he says – the oil-and-gas sector is wide-open right now, he notes, and underperforming companies litter the space.

Despite his desire for peaceful prodding, Balkany has locked horns with his biggest ­holding, Vaalco Energy, which sued him to preempt a proxy battle. The case has since been settled, and Nanes Delorme has reduced its stake in the firm. The stock is up 40 percent this year.

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Alexander Baring

Age: 29

Firm: TCI

City: London

Trades: European equities

One of the youngest partners (out of more than a dozen) in activist/philanthropist Christopher Hohn’s $15 billion–plus hedge fund, Baring is already something of a storied name in the securities industry, thanks to his lineage – he’s a direct descendant of famed eighteenth-century merchant banker Francis Baring and his eponymous banking empire.

One might assume he has simply feasted on the benefits of his fortuitous ancestry, but Baring, we understand, has worked hard, putting himself through all necessary paces to reach the top of the hedgerow. After graduating from Bristol University in southwest England with a master’s degree in ­physics and philosophy – studying metaphysics, normativ­ity, epistemology and the usual mind-­numbing crush of core physics – he worked at JPMorgan Cazenove as a pan-European sell-side analyst from 2001–2006. Baring declined to comment for this article; a TCI spokesman confirmed that he is a partner at the firm, though he refused to reveal the size of his stake.

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A Minneapolis native who waited tables in Hell’s Kitchen (and interned at MD Sass) before landing at BAM in September 2004, Bassin has quickly forged a reputation as a steely industrials trader. Bassin, who graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 2002 with a degree in finance, is a true two-tool player, technically astute at reading the markets but also a budding analyst who can ferret out fundamentals crucial to decision-making. Says one peer who nominated him: “Gabe is a rising star.”

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