U.S. Hedge Funds Hunt Talented Traders At Struggling European Funds
American hedge funds are
making smart moves by hiring the most talented traders from the European
startup funds that are struggling due to the sovereign debt crisis.
According to Bloomberg, SAC
Capital Advisors LLC, Pine River Capital Management LP and Millennium
Management LLC have all hired traders and analysts from the European
hedge funds started by bankers in the region.
Most of the employees for the U.S. funds
came from Portman Square Capital LLP, Edoma Partners LLP, Occitan
Capital Partners LLP and other funds that have either closed down,
suffered losses or are struggling to meet their fundraising goals,
people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
Traders and analysts in Europe have found
themselves jobless as banks are cutting jobs; funds have incurred
losses and investors are pulling money from unprofitable funds due to
the regional crisis.
Charles Morrison of Altus Partners Ltd.
said some of the most promising startup funds in the region have
floundered. Though hiring picked up in the second half of last year,
there are still a lot more jobless candidates than jobs. Morrison helps
hedge funds hire analysts and traders.
Hedge funds can’t charge a performance
fee when they fail to make money for investors. So, they have to survive
on a meager 2 percent management fees. Funds are finding it hard to
raise money, and pathetic returns on the asset under management forced
about 873 hedge funds to liquidate worldwide in 2012, says Hedge Fund Research Inc.
Pierre-Henri Flamand, who once headed the
No.1 proprietary-trading unit at Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS)
left his job to start Edoma Partners LLP. Unfortunately, his fund’s
assets declined from the peak of $2 billion to just $850 million.
Flamand liquidated the fund in November 2012 and returned the remaining
money to investors.
The Minnetonka, Minnesota-based Pine
River hired the former Edoma partner Evan Pearce, who is expert in
capital-structure arbitrage. Pine River also hired an analyst who worked
under Pearce at Edoma Partners LLP.
People familiar with the matter said
that Paul Godfrey also joined Pine River last month. Paul was a
Citigroup Inc. equity trader who later worked with Portman Square.
New York-based hedge fund Millennium also
hired an ex-Edoma partner Oliver Haslam who specializes in trading
stocks. Steve Cohen’s SAC Capital added an ex-Edoma employee Louis
Villa, and Paul Selvey-Clinton who was an analyst at Occitan, to its
team.
No comments:
Post a Comment