Tortoise analyst turned Tiger(3)

Tiger Infrastructure Partners has lured energy sector research analyst Cameron Addington from Tortoise Capital Advisors.

Tiger, an infrastructure fund manager focused on middle market infrastructure, will install Addington in its natural resources team, headed by partner Marc Blair, a long-time managing director for Lehman Brothers.

At Tortoise, Addington covered the energy master limited partnership (MLP) business and was credited with creating the Tortoise MLP Index. A MLP is a partnership investing in energy infrastructure, such as a pipeline. As an asset class, MLPs have grown from $30 billion to $250 billion since 2003.

“We are in the midst of a multi-year trend of investment in midstream infrastructure. Adding Cameron helps complement our effort in this sector,” said Blair.

Based in Kansas and founded in 2002, Tortoise is a MLP-focused investment company with $7.6 billion under management. Pam Kearney, head of investor relations for Tortoise, said there was no immediate plan to replace Addington, adding the 42 person outfit used a “team approach” in running its business.

In addition to hiring Addington, Tiger named Adam Emmert, a principal, to its investment committee. Emmert has been with Tiger since its 2009 inception and has worked with Lehman as well as Highstar Capital. Tiger also promoted Jared Rubin, another Lehman alumnus, to vice president.

Tiger founder Emil Henry is himself a former ‘Lehmanite’, heading its global infrastructure business. Tiger is mostly staffed with people who worked at Lehman with Henry. Prior to joining Lehman, Henry served as US assistant secretary to the Treasury.

Tiger Infrastructure Partners opened with financial backing from iconic hedge fund manager Julian Robertson, founder of Tiger Management.

At its peak, Tiger Management oversaw $22 billion. By 2000, the hedge fund operator had shrunk to $7 billion, hampered in particular by its investment in sagging US Airways, its largest holding.

After closing Tiger Management, Robertson retired from managing outside money, but remained involved in the hedge fund industry, using his capital to finance the so-called ‘Tiger Cub’ phenomenon.

Successful hedge fund manager Lee Ainslie, for example, is a so called Tiger Cub, who worked for Robertson at Tiger Management, as did Blue Ridge Capital head John Griffin and commodity trading maven Paul Touradji.

A regulatory filing in September reported Tiger’s debut infrastructure fund had raised $113 million.