APRIL 25, 2018 Fund Industry’s Exposure Reaches New High The total amount of assets in hedge funds US Hedge Fund Universe 5 TOP SEPARATE-ACCOUNT OPERATORS reporting to the SEC jumped 14% last year to a record $6.8 trillion on a gross basis. 1Q-18 1Q-17 6 LARGEST SINGLE-MANAGER FUNDS The increase — the highest annual growth Managers: 3,121 3,123 Hedge funds: 10,422 10,405 7 TOP 200 HEDGE FUND MANAGERS rate in four years — was primarily attributable to funds’ investment gains and had little to do Gross assets ($Tril.): $6.8 $6.0 2 How WorldQuant Retooled Offering with investor contributions. The jump also reflects hedge funds’ increased use of leverage. 2 Bitcoin-Futures Portfolio Offered Since 2014, total gross assets in single-manager funds have climbed 31%, according to 3 Wellington Opens Fund to Offshore LPs the latest regulatory filings captured by Hedge Fund Alert’s Manager Database. The number of hedge fund managers reporting to the SEC, including both regis- 3 White Elm Disbands West Coast Team tered investment advisors and exempt filers, remained virtually unchanged from a year ago at 3,121, while the number of single-manager funds they operate increased Credit Suisse Vet Lands at Tech Shop 3 See HIGH on Page 6 4 Visium Founder Forms Family Office 4 Rosen Pulls the Plug on Reef Road Data Show Prevalence of Separate Accounts SEC 12 Rhode Island Halves Portfolio Newly required disclosures show some of the most prominent hedge fund operators run large sums in separately managed accounts — while others avoid 12 Crypto Program Enters Queue separate accounts altogether. AQR Capital leads the field, with $69.8 billion of gross assets in separate accounts, 14 TMT Pro Prepares for Launch according to a Hedge Fund Alert analysis of the latest Form ADV filings. Next on the 4 INFLOWS/OUTFLOWS BY STRATEGY top-25 list of hedge fund firms with sizable separate-account businesses are Blue- Bay Asset Management, with $46 billion in such accounts; Renaissance Technolo- gies ($34.9 billion); Bridgewater Associates ($32.3 billion); and Fortress Investment ($30 billion). THE GRAPEVINE Some managers offer separate accounts only to a few investors willing to com- mit huge sums, while others maintain dozens of separate accounts — despite the Ben Melkman’s Light Sky Macro this added cost and complexity involved. Renaissance’s separate-account program, for month hired Dan Rodriguez as head of See DATA on Page 5 risk management. He replaces Barry Schachter, who left for undisclosed Viking LPs Pony Up for ‘Liquid-Illiquid’ Play reasons. Rodriguez previously worked at Point72 Asset Management. Schachter Viking Global has raised another $600 million for a lockup fund that invests in had joined Light Sky in 2016 follow- both highly liquid public equities and illiquid stakes in private companies. ing stops at firms including 40 North Viking Global Opportunities, described as a “liquid-illiquid hybrid fund,” began Management, Woodbine Capital, Moore accepting new pledges on Jan. 1. Pledges are due June 1, the Greenwich, Conn., firm Capital, Balyasny Asset Management, wrote in a letter to investors last week. Viking plans to close on the next round of Point72 predecessor SAC Capital and commitments on July 1. Caxton Associates. The $1.5 billion Light Viking Global Opportunities launched in January 2015. The latest marketing Sky launched last year with backing from effort marks only the third time it has accepted fresh capital. This time, Viking is Point72 founder Steve Cohen. locking up the fresh capital for three years, instead of five. It also is lengthening the withdrawal period after that to two years, instead of one. Two managing directors are leaving Gold- Viking Global Opportunities replicates the most-liquid equity investments man Sachs’ prime-brokerage unit in New of the firm’s flagship fund, Viking Global Equities, and adds a basket for private York. Shawn Byron told colleagues he is equity positions. The $3.1 billion vehicle produced a 15% return over the first nine See GRAPEVINE on Back Page See VIKING on Page 14 April 25, 2018 Hedge Fund 2 ALERT How WorldQuant Retooled Offering Under the joint venture, WorldQuant will oversee all aspects of investment management, while Millennium will handle The launch of a quantitative-investment fund by Millennium back-office operations and marketing. The two will share Management affiliateWorldQuant revives an effort scrapped responsibility for risk management. three years ago because of concerns that the strategy was too WorldQuant runs $5 billion of Millennium’s net capital, or close to one WorldQuant runs exclusively for Millennium. nearly 15% of its $35 billion under management. Aggressive A joint venture called WorldQuant Millennium Quantitative hiring in recent years has boosted WorldQuant’s headcount to Strategies plans to begin trading a vehicle dubbed WMQS Global 650 front- and back-office personnel in the firm’s Greenwich, Equity Active Extension Fund next month — marking the first Conn., headquarters and offices around the world. time WorldQuant will run money for investors other than Mil- Since 2014, WorldQuant has sponsored a number of pro- lennium. The fund is expected to raise at least $1 billion over the grams to attract and develop quant-trading talent, including next several months, the Financial Times reported April 24. WorldQuant University, which offers a master’s degree in quan- The pending launch is the culmination of a three-year effort titative programming; WorldQuant Challenge, a quant-trading by the joint venture to identify a new approach that wouldn’t contest; and WorldQuant Accelerator, which aims to attract compete with a market-neutral equity strategy WorldQuant more-experienced traders. has long managed for Izzy Englander’s Millennium. That strat- Tulchinsky founded WorldQuant in 2007 after working as a egy worked so well that in 2015 Englander gave WorldQuant portfolio manager at Millennium. founder Igor Tulchinsky the green light to begin developing vehicles for outside investors — something Millennium had Bitcoin-Futures Portfolio Offered never before allowed. Although independently owned and employing hundreds of professionals, WorldQuant has func- Commodity-trading advisor Incline Investment has started a tioned until now as a portfolio manager for Millennium’s bitcoin-futures program. multi-strategy hedge fund. The offering, Zephyr Cove Crypto Strategy, launched last The result of the reboot is a quantitative-equity fund that week. It employs a systematic trend-following approach will invest in stocks globally following a so-called 170/70 strat- designed both to produce profits and serve as a hedge against egy. It will employ leverage to increase its net exposure to 170% the highly volatile cryptocurrency market. of investor equity, while taking short positions equal to 70% So far, the fund’s portfolio contains only long and short posi- of equity capital. It’s a more-leveraged version of the better- tions in bitcoin futures offered by CME Group. Those contracts, known 130/30 strategy. and a similar but less-liquid product from Cboe Global Markets, The WMQS fund appears to be similar in its approach to currently are the only regulated “crypto derivatives” in the U.S. Renaissance Technologies’ $19 billion Renaissance Institu- But Zephyr may expand its strategy to include other contracts tional Equities Fund, which employs a 170/70 strategy to trade as they become available. U.S.-listed shares. The Renaissance fund gained 14.5% last year Incline’s marketing materials make the case that invest- and 20.6% the year before, for an annualized return of 10.5% ments in bitcoin futures offer advantages over direct digital- since inception in 2005. currency trades. Among them: bitcoin is unregulated, carries Other hedge fund managers offering active-equity strategies exit fees, has been hacked, may be lost and can’t efficiently be include AQR Capital, D.E. Shaw and Two Sigma. sold short. Bitcoin futures, on the other hand, are overseen by Given WorldQuant’s reputation as a powerhouse quant the CTFC, have no exit fees, have never been hacked, can’t be manager, the WMQS fund is expected to be met with strong lost and may be used for short positions. investor demand. Morgan Stanley has set up feeder funds to Chief investment officerTodd Hurlbut serves as Zephyr Cove channel client capital to the vehicle. Crypto’s portfolio manager, with analyst Natalie Ryang offering trading assistance. Incline runs $11 million overall. The Incline Village, Nev., firm’s flagship Tahoe Systematic Hybrid Strategy launched in Track Past and Present 2012 and became widely available in early 2017. It offers 50% Fund Start-Ups exposure to managed futures and 50% exposure to long/short equity positions. Incline also runs two futures programs and two equity programs that it launched in 2017. You can keep tabs on Wall Streeters who are Hurlbut founded Incline with chief executive Ted Parkhill. setting out on their own by monitoring “Latest Putney Financial Bradley Launches,” which you can find by signing into Hurlburt previously worked at and & Co., Everett Capital HFAlert.com and clicking on the Databases button. and founded before that. Parkhill has The listing is chock full of details about recent worked as a consultant under the banner Parkhill Financial, launches of hedge funds and funds of funds, as well following stops at Zazove Associates, Dekker Capital and John as information on vehicles established in the last W. Henry & Co. Ryang, who arrived in February, most recently several years. founded fundraising shop Fioneers. Her former employers also include Pimco, J.P. Morgan and ANZ. April 25, 2018 Hedge Fund 3 ALERT Wellington Opens Fund to Offshore LPs In his letter, Iorio also notified investors that White Elm has installed Kris Iorio to oversee financial stocks following the Wellington Management is now offering an offshore version departure of managing director Garrett Bockenek, who is leav- of a fund that invests in the stocks of companies in India.