Quick Facts
Biography
Daniel J. Arbess is a professional investor, policy analyst and lawyer who focuses on macroeconomic, geopolitical and major industrial developments. He founded investment firms Xerion Capital Partners and Xerion Investments and co-founded Stratton Investments, Taiga Capital Partners and Triton Partners.
Early life and education
Arbess was born on January 23, 1961, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and is a United States citizen. He received an LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, and an LLM from the Harvard Law School. He was an affiliate at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and a fellow at the New York-based World Policy Institute.
Career
Arbess joined the international law firm White & Case in 1987, after having been in the Kremlin as a foreign observer when Mikhail Gorbachev unveiled the policies of Glasnost and Perstroika. He was the first American lawyer to re-located to Eastern Europe, moving to Prague in early 1990. He advised the Czechoslovak (later Czech) government on its economic transition, principally involving privatization policy and transactions. In 1992, at 31, he became the youngest partner in the history of White & Case and Head of its Global Privatization Group. Arbess advised the Czechoslovak government on the restructuring of its auto industry, including the 1991 sale of Skoda Auto to Volkswagen AG for $6.4 billion.. Arbess' privatization advisory work extended to Russia, Vietnam, Israel and other countries.
Arbess has been a principal investor since 1995, first pursuing restructuring-oriented private transactions in Europe. Arbess is a co-founder of investment firms Taiga Capital, Stratton Investments and Triton Partners and founder, CEO and CIO of Xerion Investments. He launched Xerion Investments and Xerion Capital Partners in 2003 with the backing of S. Donald Sussman and his Paloma Partners. Arbess sold Xerion Capital Partners to Perella Weinberg Partners and became a partner of that firm in 2007. He was CIO of the $3.25 Billion Xerion Hedge Funds from 2003 to 2014. He returned investor capital in late 2014 and resigned from Perella Weinberg Partners in 2015 to pursue private interests and investment opportunities through Xerion Investments and its affiliates.
Boards
Arbess is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations, is a member of the Atlantic Council and advises the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation. He is also a co-Founder of No Labels, a U.S. political organization promoting collaboration across the political spectrum.