It seems that the world of fly-fishing has moved quite a way from its JR Hartley image. Former world fly-fishing champion Jeremy Herrmann is...

It seems that the world of fly-fishing has moved quite a way from its JR Hartley image. Former world fly-fishing champion Jeremy Herrmann is now the main shareholder and the highest-paid director of hedge fund manager Ferox Capital Management, who has hit the headlines today by paying himself a modest £11.4 million ($19.8 million) last year, according to accounts released yesterday.

The 35-year- old is also known as one of London's youngest and most elusive hedge fund managers--the previous year he earned £12.9 million.

Mr Herrmann founded Ferox with chums Alex Warren and Rupert Mathews after de-camping from JP Morgan in 2000 and now owns 75 per cent of the hedge fund.

In January the fund attracted the unwelcome attention of the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, the French regulator, which said it was investigating Ferox and three other European hedge funds in connection with the pre-marketing of a convertible bond issue by Vivendi in 2002. The investigation is apparantely ongoing.

Mr Herrmann has not completely abandoned his sporting roots though. Ferox, meaning fierce in Latin, is also a species of trout!