A media-shy, London-based hedge fund chief has been linked to the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 through his backing for the company involved.
Anthony Clake, one of the driving forces behind the UK hedge fund manager Marshall Wace, has been confirmed as an investor in Ocean Infinity, the company scouring the southern Indian Ocean for the lost plane.
The high-tech vessel behind the MH370 search, the Seabed Constructor, was this weekend still near the areas favored a crash sites by CSIRO scientists after concluding a second sweep of the ocean floor using a formation of torpedo-shaped underwater drones.
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It had moved across from an area containing the site considered most likely by the CSIRO to a second area containing two other sites also considered possibilities.
The company runs up to eight Hugin autonomous underwater vehicles in parallel to allow it search wide swaths of the seabed and estimates it can search up to 1200 sq. kms a day.
The first AUV went into the water just before 3am Perth time on January 22 which means specialists among the ship’s 65 crew have had time to download and consider data from the first sweep.
Ocean Infinity has taken on the MH370 search on a “no cure, no fee” basis under a contract that will see it paid between $US20 million and $US70 million if it finds the wreckage. The search has already given the previously little-known company a global profile and interest will explode if it finds the plane.
AirlineRatings has been told the multi-millionaire was involved in the decision by the company to bid for the search.
But a spokesman for Ocean Infinity said in response to a request for an interview with Clake: “Anthony Clake has made a private investment in Ocean Infinity. He is not involved in day-to-day operations or the management of the company.”
Internet searches suggest Clake, 37, maintains a low profile with few pictures available and a standard biography repeated on multiple websites.
Considered a financial wunderkind in his early career, he studied philosophy, politics and economics at Queen’s College, Oxford.
He joined Marshall Wace in 2001 and was co-developer of the Trade Optimised Portfolio System (TOPS) which polls investment ideas from brokers and other experts to sift out the most promising.
He was made partner in 2004 and was among those to benefit in 2015 when US private-equity firm KKR bought a 25 percent stake in Marshall Wace.
In 2016, The Times identified Clake as a key investor in an alternative expansion plan for Heathrow Airport that would avoid building a new runway.
The Heathrow Hub plan aims to extend one of the runways and expand the airport at a fraction of the cost and disruption of building a third runway.
Clake also made news last year when he reportedly gave £50,000 to a 23-year-old fashion student to spend on the supporting the Brexit campaign.
He told the Guardian that he was advised to give the money to the student after Vite Leave, the official leave campaign, said it was close to its spending limits.
