LONDON – Brevan Howard, the London-based hedge fund, agreed Monday to donate £20.1 million, or $30 million, to the Imperial College to set up a finance research center in its name.
Brevan Howard will give the money to the business school of the Imperial College in London, where Alan Howard, the hedge fund’s founder, studied chemical engineering for four years.
The research center will be called the Brevan Howard Center for Finance, said a spokesman for Brevan Howard at Peregrine Communications, a public relations firm. Imperial College, one of the top-ranking universities in Britain and whose main campus is in the high-end Kensington district, is best known for its science and engineering programs.
The focus of the research center has yet to be decided but is likely to include considering changes in the financial industry following the economic crisis. “I think the crisis has generated a different set of questions than have traditionally been taught in business school,” Mr. Howard said through the public relations firm.
Mr. Howard founded the hedge fund in 2002; it now manages about $39 billion. Mr. Howard’s personal wealth was estimated at $2.2 billion by The Sunday Times of London last year.