# Firebird Management

Firebird Management is an Asset Manager based in New York, United States.

## Overview

- **Organization type:** Asset Manager
- **Headquarters:** New York, United States
- **Region:** North America
- **Address:** New York, NY, United States
- **Founded:** 1994
- **Assets under management:** $100M - $500M (Altss estimate)
- **Website:** firebirdmanagement.com
- **LinkedIn:** https://www.linkedin.com/company/firebird-management

## Regulatory record

- **CRD number:** 136559
- **SEC file number:** 801-73500
- **Registration status:** Registered
- **Reports private funds:** Yes
- **IAPD record:** https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/136559

## About

Firebird Management is an SEC-registered investment adviser in New York, NY, registered since 2012. The firm manages $745 million in assets, with $664 million on a discretionary basis. It has 9 employees and 4 investment advisers.

## Sectors

- Frontier Markets
- Eastern Europe
- Financials
- Energy
- Telecommunications
- Consumer Staples

## Offices

- Moscow, Russia
- Riga, Latvia

## People

- Harvey Sawikin — Co-Founder and Portfolio Manager
- James Passin — Co-Founder and Portfolio Manager
- Ian Hague — Co-Founder

## Questions

### Who runs investment decisions at Firebird Management?

Co-founders Harvey Sawikin and James Passin serve as portfolio managers and share responsibility for investment decisions across the firm's funds. Ian Hague, the third co-founder, has historically been involved in firm strategy and private investment oversight. The lean team structure means senior partners directly negotiate positions and maintain relationships with portfolio company management in the region.

### How does Firebird source investment ideas in markets Western firms have exited?

Firebird relies on its Moscow and Riga offices for on-the-ground sourcing, maintaining direct relationships with company management, local brokers, and government-linked intermediaries across the former Soviet Union. The firm's three-decade presence in the region — dating to the voucher privatization era — gives it access to deal flow that short-term visitors cannot replicate. In markets like Georgia and Kazakhstan, Firebird has historically been among a handful of foreign institutional investors willing to underwrite local equity risk.

### Is Firebird structured as a hedge fund or a traditional asset manager?

Firebird operates as a traditional asset manager running long-only equity funds, though the illiquidity of its target markets gives its vehicles some private equity-like characteristics. The funds do not employ leverage or short-selling in any meaningful way. Redemption terms have historically included quarterly or annual liquidity windows, but the 2022 Russia market closure forced the firm to gate its Russia-focused funds and shift to a realization-based return of capital.

### Does Firebird invest anywhere outside the former Soviet Union?

Firebird's mandate is overwhelmingly concentrated in the former Soviet sphere — Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the Baltic states. The firm has occasionally looked at Eastern European countries like Romania or Bulgaria that share transitional economic characteristics, but these have never formed a material part of the portfolio. Firebird does not invest in Asia, Latin America, or Africa.

### What is Firebird's current asset base?

Firebird does not publicly disclose current AUM. At its peak around 2007, the firm managed roughly $1.2 billion. Assets have since contracted significantly due to redemptions, market depreciation, and the effective closure of Russian equity markets to Western investors. The firm's surviving funds outside Russia are substantially smaller.

## Related profiles

- [Frontline Private Equity](https://altss.com/profile/frontline-private-equity)
- [American Capital](https://altss.com/profile/american-capital)

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Last updated: 2026-06-03T20:00:00.000Z

Canonical page: https://altss.com/profile/firebird-management

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