Balyasny traders finding new jobs as FCA Register indicates further exits

After last year's frenetic hiring, Balyasny Asset Management has been clipping its wings. Around 10 macro traders were cut from the hedge fund's macro training program in February and the UK's FCA Register indicates around five further exits in June and July. Meanwhile, those who left Balyasny previously are finding new roles.

The FCA Register suggests that various people have left Balyasny in recent months. They include: Nicolas Grand-Chavin, an associate portfolio manager in quantitative equities trading; Andy Hill, an execution trader; Chris Langman (a portfolio manager previously reported as leaving by Bloomberg), and Daryl Li, a former Morgan Stanley swaps trader. Balyasny didn't respond to a request to comment on the exits and none of the individuals we contacted for comment responded.

The FCA Register also shows Ulrich Brandt-Pollmann, Balyasny's global head of systematic strategies, leaving the UK office in June 2018. Brandt-Pollmann is now working for Balyasny in Chicago.

Many of those who appear to have left Balyasny this year were only hired in 2017, with several spending less than two years there.

Some of those who left Balyasny this year are finding new roles elsewhere. Anindya Mohinta, a portfolio manager who left Balyasny this month after joining from Goldman Sachs in June 2015, has just joined Moore Capital in a similar role. Joel Odjdana, an investment analyst who joined Balyasny from Nomura in 2014 and left in January 2018, joined the Seaport Group in March - only to leave again this month. Hammad Khan, a former Balyasny quantitative portfolio manager who left after less than two years has set up his own fund, QuanVolve LLP, based out of Sevenoaks in Kent.

In May, five of Balyasny's macro professionals also joined Point72. 

The staff movement at Balyasny hasn't all been one way. While people have left, others have joined - albeit in smaller numbers than last year.

The FCA Register indicates that Balyasny has hired at two people since May as it rebuilds its London macro team under Tim Wilkinson from Citadel. They are: Xiao Zhang from Capula and Dimitry Korsunsky from Element Capital Partners. Separately, Bastien Lacassagne has joined the equities team from Rothschild (where he was an M&A analyst) and Simon Freeman has joined from GLG to launch a merger arbitrage strategy. Following the cuts to its training program, notably fewer of Balyasny's recent recruits seem to have come from investment banks.

Balyasny Europe's most recently available accounts, for the year ending December 2016, show the fund making £11m in profits and employing 69 staff (up from 37 one year previously).

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