Chris Hohn’s TCI Fund Management generated a record $18.9bn for investors in 2025, strengthening the financial firepower behind the British billionaire’s philanthropic efforts, which direct substantial funding towards child health and development programmes across Africa, according to a report by Billionaires Africa.

The hedge fund’s performance, the largest single-year gain recorded by any hedge fund according to LCH Investments, coincided with a record $1.45bn in new commitments from the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF), the charitable organisation established by Hohn and his former wife. Hohn also donated £1.44bn during the period covered by the latest Sunday Times Giving List, earning him recognition as Britain’s most generous philanthropist.

TCI’s charitable model dates back to its launch in 2003, when Hohn incorporated annual contributions to the foundation into the fund’s fee structure. The original arrangement committed 0.5% of assets under management each year, with a further 0.5% payable when annual returns exceeded 11%.

The fund began trading in January 2004 with approximately $470m and quickly established a strong performance record. Returns averaged around 40% annually during its first four years, helping assets grow to approximately $19bn by May 2008. Between 2006 and 2011, Hohn donated around £1bn, including £466m to the foundation in 2008.

Born in Surrey in 1966 to a Jamaican immigrant father who worked as a mechanic and a mother employed as a legal secretary, Hohn studied accounting and business economics at the University of Southampton before earning an MBA at Harvard Business School. He subsequently worked at private equity firm Apax Partners and hedge fund Perry Capital, where he established the London office and launched a European investment strategy that exceeded $1bn within three years.

Hohn has attributed his philanthropic ambitions partly to a visit to the Philippines in his twenties, when he witnessed extreme poverty. That experience helped shape his decision to build a hedge fund whose success would support programmes aimed at improving living conditions in developing countries.

TCI initially established its reputation through aggressive activist campaigns targeting major European companies. In 2005, it helped block Deutsche Börse’s proposed acquisition of the London Stock Exchange and contributed to the departure of the German exchange operator’s chief executive. Two years later, TCI acquired a stake in Dutch bank ABN Amro and pressed for a sale, which ultimately resulted in a roughly $100bn takeover by a consortium including Royal Bank of Scotland, Fortis and Banco Santander.

The firm also experienced significant setbacks, including restrictions imposed by Japan on its investment in electricity wholesaler Power, losses from a legal battle involving US railroad CSX and a difficult period following the global financial crisis. TCI lost 43% in 2008, and its main fund had contracted to $4.9bn by 2012.

The foundation’s funding arrangements were restructured that year. Hohn subsequently divorced Jamie Cooper in 2014, with a UK court awarding her £337m in what was then the largest divorce settlement in British legal history. Cooper later established her own philanthropic organisation, Big Win Philanthropy, following a dispute over the charitable foundation.

TCI has since evolved towards a concentrated, long-term investment approach, while retaining its willingness to intervene in corporate strategy. Its campaigns have included opposition to Canadian National Railway’s proposed acquisition of Kansas City Southern and calls for Alphabet to reduce staffing costs. Hohn also launched the Say on Climate initiative in 2020, seeking annual shareholder votes on companies’ emissions strategies.

The portfolio has included substantial positions in GE Aerospace, Visa, Moody’s, S&P Global and Canadian Pacific Kansas City, alongside European companies such as Safran, Airbus, Ferrovial and Aena. Hohn’s earnings from TCI were estimated at $4.9bn in 2025 by Institutional Investor, placing him among the highest-paid figures in finance.

The scale of TCI’s investment returns has helped sustain CIFF’s operations. The foundation had an endowment of approximately $8bn at the end of 2025 and maintains offices across Africa, Asia and Europe. Its work focuses particularly on child nutrition, infectious diseases, and the health and economic prospects of women and girls.