Former PM of shuttered Citadel equity unit pops up at 90-year-old private investment firm

A former portfolio manager at Aptigon Capital, a recently shuttered equities unit of hedge fund giant Citadel, has landed on his feet. Buy-side veteran Chauncey Upson started at Lord Abbett as an analyst in March.

Citadel made headlines last month when it decided to shut down its Aptigon Capital equities unit two years after its launch and 12 months following a massive restructuring that resulted in the appointment of a new head and the culling of around one-third of Aptigon’s staff at the time. Eric Felder, who took over from predecessor Richard Schimel in March of 2018, is no longer with the firm, according to Reuters. Better-performing equity PMs and their teams were said to be joining three of the firm’s other equities businesses: Citadel Global Equities, Surveyor Capital and Ashler Capital. Other jobs were set to be cut, according to the report.

However, Aptigon and Upson were said to have parted ways in January, before any decision was made on shuttering the equity unit, according to a source close to the firm. Citadel declined to comment.

This isn't the first period of upheaval in Upson's hedge fund career. He previously worked for Visium Asset Management, the multi-billion-dollar hedge fund that closed its doors in 2016 after former and current employees were accused of insider trading. Citadel scooped up more than a dozen portfolio managers from Visium who weren't part of that controversy. Upson has also worked as a PM at Diamond Capital and an analyst at Steadfast Financial. He’s taken a few rides on the hedge fund rollercoaster.

Lord Abbett, which manages over $160 million, was founded all the way back in 1929 in the ashes of the stock market crash that ushered in the Great Depression. It’s been privately-held ever since.