Christopher Chandler (businessman)

Born in Matangi, Chandler is the son of beekeepers Robert and Marija Chandler, who launched and operated Chandler House, a department store in Hamilton, New Zealand.[5] He attended the University of Auckland, earning a degree in law in 1982.[6]

In 1982, Christopher and his older brother, Richard, took over the business and expanded it to ten stores, adding fashion design, manufacturing and real estate, before starting to look for international investment opportunities.[7][5]

In 1986, the brothers formed investment firm Sovereign Global in Monaco to focus on transitioning industries in Russia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.[7] The business operated by investing in assets which it felt were mispriced in times of uncertainty.[5] The Chandler brothers were among the first and biggest investors in the emerging markets of Brazil, the Czech Republic, and Russia.[8] According to Fortune Magazine, Sovereign “bet big on commercial real estate at the time of the transition in Hong Kong from British to Chinese control, when most of the world was profoundly pessimistic about the city's prospects.”[9]

Together, the brothers deployed a “narrow and deep” investment strategy, steering large portions of a portfolio into few high conviction trades. This strategy runs counter to the diversification strategies typically deployed in the modern investment industry.[10] Christopher’s role in Sovereign’s investment strategy was to project the firm’s investment targets forward five or ten years.[6]

One of the company's first major investments was in Hong Kong real estate, a market which investors had fled after the signing of the Sino-British Accord.[5] The company also invested in the Brazilian telecommunications industry, just after the country came out of hyperinflation, and in Russia, just after the fall of communism.

During the Asian banking crisis, the brothers made significant investments in both Japan, including taking stakes in UHJ Holdings, Mizuho Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., and Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group.[5][6] The brothers also took a stake in South Korean refiner SK Corp., where they unsuccessfully tried to "oust" its CEO and Chairman,[5][6] Chey Tae-won, after Tae-won was convicted and imprisoned on charges of accounting fraud.[6]

In 2002, the brothers were the fourth largest investor in Gazprom, the Russian state-controlled gas company.[11] The dog of their representative on the Board, Boris Fyodorov, was poisoned by cyanide, which allegedly may have been the result of their campaign to clean up the company's governance by appointing the first independent director to the state-controlled gas company.[11]

In 2006, Christopher founded Dubai-based Legatum Capital after splitting off from his brother.[7] The company was co-founded with Mark Stoleson, Philip Vassiliou and Alan McCormick.[5]

Legatum is a private, multibillion-dollar investment firm that puts money into companies in developing countries as well as the world's capital markets.[7] In April 2012, Legatum acquired its own building in the Dubai International Finance Centre.[7]

Chandler is publicity shy and there exist few photographs of him nor much information about his personal life.[3] He enjoys windsurfing, water-skiing and riding motorcycles.[6]

The Chandler brothers bought La Fleur du Cap in Cap Ferrat for their parents.[11] It was previously owned by David Niven and Charlie Chaplin.

Chandler became a citizen of Malta, a member-state of the European Union, in 2016.[4] Roberta Metsola, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) representing Malta, said in January 2018, when the news of his Maltese citizenship became public, that it was "surreal" that a Brexit backer had applied for an EU passport.[12] It subsequently became clear that Chandler was not sensu stricto a Brexiter, and his application for Maltese citizenship was made before the UK referendum in June 2016.[13] Charles Moore, writing for the Telegraph in May 2018, wrote that Chandler "has never advanced political views or, according to Legatum employees, expressed opinions about Brexit".[14]