Stanley Fink said today he is retiring from the fund of fund managers he helped shape over the past 21 years.

Mr Fink was chief executive of Man Group for seven years, until last year, and was for a time the highest paid chief in the FTSE 100.

He stepped down to become deputy chairman last year but today said he would leave at the annual meeting on July 10 and would not seek re-election.

Mr Fink leaves as the world's largest listed hedge fund manager reported another set of consensus beating profit figures, up 60 per cent in the year to $2 billion, compared to the $1.95 billion analysts had expected.

Shares in Man Group climbed more than 3 per cent in early trading to 606.5p.

He said: "I have many commercial and philanthropic interests outside Man Group to which I am increasingly committed and I am eager to pursue these, and other opportunities, more fully."

Mr Fink is chairman of the Evelina Children’s Hospital Appeal through which he is trying raising millions to equip London’s first new children’s hospital since Great Ormond Street. He is also a trustee of ARK (Absolute Return for Kids), a philanthropic organisation bankrolled by wealthy hedge fund managers, and a fundraiser for Burlington Danes city academy school in White City, West London.

A major donor to the Conservatives, he has also been enlisted by George Osborne, the Shadow Chancellor, to develop proposals for a trading market for environmental technology companies, to help make London a global centre of the emerging industry.

Peter Clarke, the current chief executive at the 225 year old company that began life as a sugar trading house, said that the record of growth in funds under management, up 21 per cent in the year to $74.6 billion had continued after the year end in March and in the past two months had grown another $4 billion to $78.5 billion, despite the credit crunch.

He said: "The outlook for financial markets remains uncertain and periods of higher volatility may return. Against this backdrop, investors are likely to increase their focus on the long term benefits of diversification into non traditional assets."

The increase in funds under management in the year came after sales of $15.9 billion outpaced redemptions of $10.7 billion.

Net management fee income grew 21 per cent to $1.1 million while performance fee income rose 161 per cent to $936 million.

Its funds, principally its flagship AHL fund which uses quantative models to decide what to invest in, provided a return of $5.6 billion in the year.

Mr Fink joined Man in 1987 as finance director and later ran the investment management business before becoming chief executive in 2000.

He cashed in £27 million of shares last December at 544.33p, reducing his holding by 5 million shares to 14.5 million.

Times Recommends

• Lies and cover-up at MG Rover exposed by report
• High oil prices push manufacturing costs up
• Primark founder steps down as chief executive