Simon Sadler: The eccentric English hedge fund manager and complicated boss

Simon Sadler’s employees at hedge fund Segantii Capital Management may be breathing a sigh of relief. Yes, they are losing their jobs as Segantii returns money to investors, but they will no longer be working with Sadler whom Bloomberg today describes as “hard-charging, hot-tempered and foul-mouthed,” who sometimes berated investment and support staff when they didn’t behave to his liking.

Get Morning Coffee ☕ in your inbox. Sign up here.

Sadler, who is facing insider trading charges, which he plans to defend, has not commented for this article and the complaints may come from a cluster of disaffected employees. 

The last time Sadler appeared in the London office, Bloomberg says he appeared with bodyguards; it is not clear why.

If Segantii’s staff are wary of Sadler’s ire, he has supporters in other areas. Sadler bought Blackpool Football Club out of administration in 2019 and is widely admired by its fans. “I’m walking on the pitch and people are singing my name. I’m getting soaked in champagne…it was weird,” he told the Blackpool Gazette three years ago. 

Sadler grew up in Blackpool and was the first member of his family to go to university. “Cut me in half and I’m like a stick of Blackpool rock: Blackpool matters to me and this club matters to me,” he declared when he bought the football club in 2019. His first job was renting out deckchairs on Blackpool beach. 

Sadler attended the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology and began his financial services career in Moscow. He moved to Hong Kong in 1999 and worked for Dresdner, Deutsche Bank and HSBC before founding Segantii in 2007.

The fund is named after a sub-tribe of the Brigantes who occupied the area of north England Lancashire in pre-Roman times. Segantii also appear to have been infused with Eastern influences, though: Bloomberg says Sadler arranged regular office visits from a fengshui master who advised on positioning plants and small containers of water for good luck.

 Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: +44 7537 182250 (SMS, WhatsApp or voicemail). Telegram: @SarahButcher. Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com. Signal also available.

Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: all our comments are moderated by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. Eventually it will – unless it’s offensive or libelous (in which case it won’t.)