SPO Partners & Co.

SPO made its fourth appearance on Alpha's Hedge Fund 100 ranking in 2015, falling 14 spots to No. 69. Between 2014 and 2015, firm capital dropped 8.2 percent. SPO’s co-founders and namesakes — Stanford Business School alumni John Scully, William Patterson and William Oberndorf — started the firm in 1991 as a source of long-term capital for public and private companies after managing equity investments on behalf of the Robert Bass family from 1971 to 1991. The Mill Valley, California–based firm became well-known in the 1990s, thanks to successful investments in private landowner Plum Creek Timber…