Hedge fund manager Greg Coffey is the buyer of a $US105m Hamptons Estate

The Australian hedge fund manager has bought an oceanfront 12-bedroom estate in the Hamptons, paying a near record for the area favoured by wealthy New Yorkers.

Hedge-fund manager Greg Coffey’s new Hamptons estate is one of the most expensive ever sold in the area. Picture: Bespoke Real Estate

Australian hedge-fund manager Greg Coffey was the buyer behind a $US105m ($146m) deal for the oceanfront Fordune estate in the Hamptons late last year, according to people familiar with the situation.

The sale of the Southampton compound, built for auto mogul Henry Ford II around 1960, was one of the largest recorded transactions in Hamptons history, though the closing price was significantly shy of the property’s original asking price of $US175 million.

The estate was first listed for sale in 2017. The seller was Brenda Earl, a former partner at the private-equity firm Zweig-Dimenna.

Ms Earl and Mr Coffey didn’t respond to requests for comment.

One of the many rooms of Greg Coffey’s new Hamptons estate. Picture: Bespoke Real Estate

The property comprises about 42 acres with a roughly 20,000-square-foot main house with 12 bedrooms, as well as a carriage house and sports courts. There is also a 60-foot-long pool.

The deal is the latest major buy by Mr Coffey, 50, who is nicknamed the “Wizard of Oz” for his impressive investor returns. Mr Coffey purchased an Upper East Side townhouse for $US53.5m last year from New York real-estate developer David Levinson. That property dates to the 1920s and has more than 16,000 square feet of living space, records show.

Mr Coffey rose to prominence as a trader, posting impressive returns at London-based GLG and later becoming co-chief investment officer for European business at Louis Bacon’s Moore Capital Management. He temporarily retired in 2012, but now heads Kirkoswald Asset Management, a New York-based investment firm.

The Hamptons deal was brokered by Bespoke Real Estate and Julia B. Fee Sotheby’s International Realty.

The Wall Street Journal