INDEPENDENT CANDIDATE:SENATOR SHANE Ross, who is standing in the Dublin South constituency, is the non-executive chairman of a Scottish investment management business and is also a director of funds registered in the Cayman Islands and Luxembourg.
Mr Ross is chairman of SVM Global Fund, Edinburgh, which has both retail and institutional clients. It puts an emphasis on investing in emerging countries as it believes the developed economies have taken on too much debt, according to its latest annual report.
SVM describes itself as a “multistrategy fund of funds” that provides access to an international portfolio and to specialist funds including hedge and private equity funds. Mr Ross receives a fee of £22,500 (€26,700) a year for his work and is also a shareholder.
He is a director of the Dublin-registered SVM Saltire Fund plc which went into voluntary liquidation in June 2010 with a balance in the bank of €3.4 million available for redemptions.
The other director of the fund is David Shubotham, the Switzerland-based Irish stockbroker.
Mr Ross is a director of two funds managed by Barings Bank in London. The Baring Hedge Select Fund is a $142 million Cayman Islands company listed on the Irish Stock Exchange. It aims for consistent returns and minimal volatility.
He is also a director of the Baring Russia Fund – a $242 million Luxembourg-registered fund that concentrates on investing in Russian equities.
One of its bigger investments is in the huge Russian energy company Gazprom.
In his declaration of members' interests, Mr Ross gives a London address for the two Baring funds. He told The Irish Timesthat he did so because they were managed from London, and pointed out that formerly he cited them as being resident in Luxembourg and the Cayman Islands.
Mr Ross, a journalist with the Sunday Independentand a former stockbroker, has shares in Independent News & Media, the Bank of Irelandand National Toll Roads,according to the 2009 register of members' interests.