Brevan Howard latest fund to hire after strong pandemic performance

Brevan Howard is strengthening its bench in New York and Hong Kong.

The hedge fund, which achieved a 24% increase in its main fund in the year to May 15, and which doubled the money in the AH Master Fund (run by Alan Howard himself) at the peak of the pandemic in March 2020, has added portfolio managers from Goldman Sachs and Citadel.

In Hong Kong, Brevan recruited Ajay Kumar, the former head of APAC Index trading at Goldman Sachs. In New York, it recruited Mark Ipri, a fixed income portfolio manager at Citadel.

Bloomberg suggested in May that Brevan Howard is making a comeback after its assets fell to just $8bn at the end of last year, down from nearly $40bn in 2013.

It's not the only fund hiring: as we reported last week ExodusPoint and LMR have also been recruiting a new generation of up and coming portfolio managers, like ex-Goldman trader Stanley Sheriff, who joined from DRW. 

Millennium Asset Management also continued its build. The fund, which has hired over 100 people since March according to Bloomberg  is understood to have recruited Thomas Bowden, a former rates trader from Goldman Sachs. Meanwhile, Balyasny has just hired James ter Haar, a former partner at ExodusPoint (for less than two years), who joined as macro portfolio manager.

Headhunters say banks' traders are particularly eager to join hedge funds this year as they fear the strong performance of sales and trading units will be diluted by the weak performance in M&A and capital markets. However, hedge funds are increasingly interested in recruiting from the buy-side itself - Goldman Sachs seemingly excepted. 

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