| Remy W. Trafelet | |
| Occupation: | Investor and CEO |
| Known For: | Founder of Trafelet Delta Funds, CEO of Alico, Inc., and Chairman of Trafelet & Company |
| Education: | Phillips Exeter Academy Dartmouth College (BA) |
| Children: | 4 |
Remy White Trafelet (born March 1970) is an American hedge fund manager and investor. He is the president and CEO of investment firm Trafelet & Company, LLC, and Chairman of Hazeltree Treasury Solutions, a company Trafelet founded in 2011.
He is a founding partner and managing director of Colonnade Capital LLC and the CEO of Special-purpose acquisition company Colonnade Acquisition Corp. II. He was previously the president and CEO of Alico, Inc.[1]
He is the husband of Lady Melissa Percy, whom he married in 2019.
Trafelet graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy and earned an A.B. degree from Dartmouth College. He started his career as an analyst and portfolio manager at Fidelity Management and Research Company. By the age of 25, he was managing a $500 million mutual fund.[2] In 1998 he was hired by Bowman Capital Management, running a diversified stock portfolio that netted an annualized return of 48% over two years.
In 1999 founded as Trafelet Capital Management which later became private investment firm Trafelet & Company, LLC, he became its president and Chief Executive Officer.[3] Trafelet is known for his active investment strategy involving hands-on research and in-person visits to likely investment targets.[4] He prefers a bottom-up approach to stock picking rather than top-down sector analysis.[5]
Trafelet launched Trafelet Delta Funds in November 2000, building the firm to a peak of $6 billion in assets under management in 2006. The firm recorded a 25.1% annualized return from its inception through 2007.
The 2008 financial crisis resulted in a 26% fall for Trafelet's flagship fund, which was managing assets from major banks, including Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, and Citigroup. While the fund outperformed major stock indices in 2008, large institutional investors and banks were seeking liquidity and freeing up assets to meet their own financial obligations. Trafelet refused to gate redemptions and the subsequent outflow left Trafelet with approximately $3 billion in managed assets by the end of 2008.[6] [7]
Trafelet founded fintech company Hazeltree in 2011. He is Chairman of the company, which provides treasury solutions to financial institutions and asset managers with over $2.5 trillion in assets under advisory.[8]
In January 2014, Trafelet teamed up with George Brokaw, previously a managing director at Highbridge Capital Management, to form Trafelet Brokaw & Co., which he co-managed until 2018.[9]
In 2016, Trafelet was appointed president and CEO of Alico, Inc., owner of the largest citrus producer in the United States, where he had been serving as director since the purchase of a majority interest in 2013.[10] [11] [12] Trafelet restructured Alico in 2017, cutting over $20 million in operating costs and reinvesting in citrus production with the replanting of over 400,000 citrus trees. In 2018, he attempted to reconstitute Alico's board, reducing the number of seats and bringing in more independent members.[13] The action was met with resistance from existing board members and a legal battle ensued.[14] Trafelet voluntarily resigned in February 2019 as part of an amicable settlement with Alico. He remains the largest shareholder and a consultant to the company.[15] [16]
In 2020, Trafelet formed special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Colonnade Acquisition Corp. with the CEO of Colonnade Properties, Joseph Sambuco. The company filed for a $200 million IPO in August of that year.[17] Ouster Inc, a U.S. startup that makes lidar sensors for self-driving cars and smart cities, announced that it had reached a deal to go public via merger with Colonnade Acquisition Corp. in December 2020.[18] Trafelet was appointed to Ouster's board of directors following the successful completion of the deal.[19] Trafelet and Sambuco formed a second SPAC, Colonnade Acquisition Corp. II, and priced a $300 million IPO in March 2021.[20] The pair co-founded alternative asset management firm Colonnade Capital LLC in 2021 and Trafelet is a partner and managing director of the firm.[21]
Trafelet is also the owner and operator of pecan producer Mercer Mill Pecans in the U.S. state of Georgia.[22]
Trafelet is on the Executive Committee and Board of the Children's Scholarship Fund and is a former Trustee and Chairman of the Investment Committee at Phillips Exeter Academy.[23] [24] [25] He is also on the Board of Trustees of the Boys' Club of New York and chairs the organization's Investment Committee.[26] He is President of the Trafelet Family Foundation and serves as a Director of the Atlantic Salmon Federation.[27]
Trafelet has been married twice. On 30 September 2000, he married Lara Elizabeth Schmidt at Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio. They had three children, Remy, Charlotte, and Franny,[28] [29] before divorcing in 2018. Trafelet married Lady Melissa Percy on 19 December 2019 at Mercer Mill Plantation in Oakfield, Georgia. The couple had their first child together, daughter Bluebell Rose Trafelet, on 19 February 2020.[28]