Hedge fund Eisler Capital said goodbye to its ex-Millennium systematic PM

After the hiring, the firing. As we reported last week, hedge fund Eisler Capital is following Brevan Howard in cutting heads after a hiring spree.

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Eisler declared in early 2024 that it intended to add up to 25 portfolio managers last year after increasing its assets under management (AUM) by more than $1bn. Now, with AUM expected to fall by $1bn by the end of this year, Eisler is letting go of 15% of its 300 staff.

Five of the exits are portfolio managers. One of those portfolio managers is Alexander Alekseev in London, along with his team. 

Alekseev joined Eisler in 2023 after two years as a senior portfolio manager at Millennium and seven years running a systematic trading desk at Morgan Stanley in London. Sources told us previously that Alekseev was building a pod focused on systematic equities trading, even though there were allegations that Eisler's trading infrastructure was weak compared to some rival funds. 

Alekseev didn't respond to a request to comment on this article, and his next destination is unknown. In combination, the five portfolio managers let go by the fund last week are understood to have managed only 3% of Eisler's assets. In Alekseev's absence, it's understood that Eisler has around 10 other systematic PMs, the most significant of whom is Pierre-Emmanuel Juillard in Milan. Many of the others are thought to be comparatively minor risk-takers who joined relatively recently. 

It might help if the remaining systematic PMs deploy additional capital soon. Eisler is thought to have invested in additional technology to support Alekseev's pod, and it would probably be nice if it were to get a return.

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