|
Representatives from Schonfeld, which mostly manages New
York-area trading magnate Steven Schonfeld's personal fortune,
have been holding meetings in London over setting up a physical
presence instead of just investing in local traders, two sources
who had met with the company told Reuters.
Schonfeld currently invests in stock-picking, or 'equity', hedge
funds as well as computer-driven, or 'quantitative', strategies
in London, using a so-called multi-manager strategy in which it
selects and allocates cash to portfolio managers.
“London is an important market for us as evident by the six
quantitative and three ... equity teams we back, and our
interest in bringing on more teams," said Ryan Tolkin, Chief
Investment Officer of Schonfeld.
"We have not, however, made any decisions about Schonfeld's
presence in London, but continue to strategically evaluate our
options.”
Schonfeld manages assets in excess of $13 billion, with
leverage, as of Dec, 16, 2016, an increase of approximately 55
percent since Jan. 4, 2016. A spokesman declined to disclose the
firm's precise assets without leverage.
If the firm decides to proceed with an office in Britain, it
will join 71 other U.S. hedge fund investors, including 67 based
in London, according to data from industry tracker Preqin.
Schonfeld recently made offers to at least two portfolio
managers with computer-driven strategies, said one of the
sources, in line with some of its past investments.
The multibillion-dollar hedge fund investor last year backed new
quant fund Masa Capital with $100 million. It backed other hedge
funds in 2016, including Lucha Capital Management and Folger
Hill Asset Management's Asia business.
Last year, Schonfeld added seven equity and six computer-driven
teams, bringing its total number of hedge fund managers to over
fifty, according to its website.
The firm founded by Schonfeld - famed for earning $400,000 in
1988 and growing his portfolio exponentially over the past 29
years - started taking cash from outsiders from the start of
2016.
(Reporting by Maiya Keidan; Editing by Mark Potter)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
