The hottest new hedge funds in the U.S. – and who they’ve hired
Despite industry-wide performance challenges and fee pressures over the past few years, there were plenty of new hedge funds that debuted in 2017, and many new launches announced this year already.
Ex-GLG Partners and Moore Capital star trader Greg Coffey, who retired at the age of 41, is preparing to launch Kirkoswald Capital Partners, which will be headquartered in London but have offices in New York and possibly Sydney.
Ex-Goldman Sachs and MF Global CEO and former New Jersey governor Jon Corzine is returning to Wall Street after seven years in exile with a new macro hedge fund, and he has been making senior hires, including ex-Taconic Capital Advisors investment director Richard Chappelear as co-CIO and portfolio manager.
Ex-Viking Global Investors investment chief Daniel Sundheim, ex-Millennium Management fixed income head Michael Gelband and ex-S.A.C. Capital and Point72 founder Steven Cohen, the billionaire who is no longer barred from trading client money, are the other biggest names launching hedge funds soon. However, smaller fish are entering the pond as well.
Here’s a roundup of the hottest new hedge funds that have launched (or announced their plans to launch) this year and examples of who they’ve hired so far.
New hires at hedge fund launches announced so far this year
The following are just a sampling of new hedge fund launches announced last month, many of which are hiring in the New York tri-state area.
Ex-Tradeworx CIO Mani Mahjouri’s Redbank, New Jersey-based Blueshift Asset Management launched earlier this month with more than $300m under management and recently got an investment from New York-based private equity firm White Oak Equity Partners. In October, Blueshift hired ex-Blackstone and Cardo Capital Management COO/CFO Michael Zecher as CFO. In December 207, it brought on ex-Tradeworx MD Dmitry Sarkisov as COO/CCO. And in January 2018, it hired ex-Tradeworx MDs Lewis Hyatt as CTO and Scott Kornblum as chief security officer, ex-Tradeworx CTO Georgios Choudalakis as a senior strategist, ex-Tradeworx AVP Fen Fu as a strategist, ex-Tradeworx quantitative analysts Priyesh Patel, Pavel Bachurin, Fabio Rocha and Xiaoming Zhong as strategists, and ex-Tradeworx business analyst Corey Dean.
Ex-D.E. Shaw trader Parvinder Thiara launched Athanor Capital, a discretionary relative value hedge fund, and hired several U.S.-based ex-Brevan Howard employees, including Gabriela Teodorescu Bockhaus as the head of business development and risk management professional Ela Maksymiuk. In September, the firm hired ex-Balyasny executive Mudit Gupta as the head of operations. In August, Athanor hired former Jadara Capital partner Tariq Musa as the head of equities and ex-Deutsche Bank executive Maisha Rashid as the chief of staff. In July, ex-YipitData senior software engineer of data products Shaun Viguerie became the head of technology. In April 2017, ex-D.E. Shaw SVP Hilario Ramos came on board as COO/CCO. Senior strategist Preston Schiroky, formerly with UBS, Deutsche Bank, Cantor Fitzgerald and The Midway Group, and ex-Caxton and Vermillion trader Neel Rai also joined the firm last year.
Ex-S.A.C. Capital analyst Norbert Gottesman launched New York-based Triple Gate Capital, long/short equity healthcare-focused hedge fund, toward the close of 2015, but he is just now opening it to external investment.
New York-headquartered Mudrick Capital Management, which currently manages $1.8bn in distressed and event-driven credit strategies, recently launched a new fund to invest in senior secured debt from distressed companies. In July 2017, John O'Callaghan joined the firm as general counsel/CCO. In April, Beau Harbor, formerly with Credit Suisse, Citadel and Mount Kellett/Fortress Investment Group, became an MD-level senior analyst at Mudrick and ex-Lazard and Brookfield Asset Management senior associate Eric Heiman joined the firm as an investment analyst. Last March, it hired ex-BlueMountain Capital Management head of platform distribution Katherine Rynone as a business development and investor relations executive.
On New Year’s Day, Brigade Capital Management launched the Brigade Calvary Fund, a long/short equity fund targeting highly leveraged companies. In September 2017, it hired Marielle Bush, previously with Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, GoldenTree and Hutchin Hill, as director of marketing.
After BP Capital founder T. Boone Pickens announced that he will convert his investment firm into a family office, ex-BP head trader/PM David Meaney and co-CIO/principal Brian Bradshaw left its energy hedge fund business to become co-founders of Dallas-based Assert Capital Management.
Ex-Scopia Capital Management analyst Connor Haley ponied up $10m of his own money in preparation for the launch of Alta Fox Capital Management, a long-biased small- and micro-cap-focused hedge fund based in Fort Worth, Texas. The firm has not announced any hires yet.
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