Brevan Howard PM re-emerges at expanding London hedge fund

A former Brevan Howard portfolio manager, who left in June last year, has re-emerged at credit-focused hedge fund that’s quietly been hiring from investment banks.

Shawn Cooper, who spent at year at Brevan Howard after joining from Deutsche Bank in May 2015, is now a portfolio manager at Orchard Global Asset Management. Cooper was previously head of European asset-backed securities and collateralized debt obligation (CDO) trading at Deutsche Bank, where he spent more than nine years.

Orchard is an alternative asset manager that focuses on structured credit, direct lending and opportunistic fixed income investments. Cooper is the latest senior former investment bank trader to join the hedge fund this year.

Viktor Sebek, a credit trader who spent nearly 12 years at UBS, joined in a similar role at Orchard in January. Philip Sbrocchi, who previously worked at Moelis & Co and hedge fund sponsor Merced Capital, and Tom Jørgesen, a director within Deutsche Bank’s structured sales team who left in July last year, joined as a portfolio advisor. Both arrived in April.

Cooper left Brevan Howard in the middle of last year, shortly after the hedge fund reportedly lost $1.4bn in redemptions and senior employees started to depart. Headcount has continued to shrink so far this year, and Brevan now has 68 employees registered with the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK, down from 74 at the beginning of the year. Recent departures include Karsten Filt, a portfolio manager, who joined hot hedge fund start-up Amia Capital earlier this month, and Rajesh Amin, a former Goldman Sachs trader who was Brevan's head of investments, left in September.

There's still been the occasional senior hire at Brevan Howard this year, however. Andrea Casulli, co-head of European government-bond-trading at Goldman Sachs, joined in a senior trading role in September. Kanishk Sarin, a former senior rates trader at Deutsche Bank, joined from Capstone Investment Advisors in July, while Duncan Larraz, who was latterly head of quant analytics at asset management firm Tages Capital, joined as a strategist in June.

Contact for news, tips and comments: pclarke@efinancialcareers.com

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