Hedgeweek Features

Jefferies Strategic Investments and Leucadia Asset Management Holdings have won a major legal victory against George Weiss, after a federal judge ruled that the hedge fund founder is personally liable for millions in unpaid debts tied to the collapse of Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers, according to a report by Investment News.

Founded in 1978, Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers was once one of the industry’s most respected firms, managing over $2bn in assets. However, a combination of lavish executive spending, declining performance, and mounting debts led to its dramatic shutdown in early 2024.

On 29 February, 2024, Weiss shocked his team in a Zoom call, instructing portfolio managers to liquidate all positions. Despite declining assets, executives allegedly continued flying on private jets and distributing six-figure bonuses, while Chief Investment Officer Jordi Visser faced criticism for focusing on his personal brand instead of stabilising operations.

The final blow came when Leucadia, a strategic partner of Jefferies, demanded repayment on outstanding loans. With no funds to meet its obligations, Weiss Multi-Strategy Advisers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2024, leaving creditors and employees – some owed millions in deferred compensation – scrambling.

Before the bankruptcy, Weiss signed a Forbearance Agreement in February 2024 with Jefferies and Leucadia, seeking to delay payments on $53m in debts tied to a 2018 Strategic Relationship Agreement (SRA) and two Note Purchase Agreements (NPAs).

Crucially, Weiss signed the agreement both personally and on behalf of the firm, with provisions explicitly binding him. Judge Alvin K Hellerstein of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled firmly in favour of Jefferies and Leucadia, granting summary judgment against Weiss.

Weiss attempted several legal defences, arguing duress, lack of consideration, and lack of mutual assent, all of which were rejected. His claims that he signed the agreement under coercion, citing threats of lawsuits and reputational damage, were dismissed as insufficient to establish economic duress, especially given his status as a seasoned financial professional with legal representation.

The ruling strengthens Jefferies and Leucadia’s position in ongoing bankruptcy litigation, where Leucadia has accused Weiss of treating the hedge fund as a “personal piggy bank”, citing $28m in executive bonuses paid while the firm was insolvent.

STP Investment Services (STP), a global provider of technology-enabled investment operations, has launched STP LaunchAdvisor, a bundled fund administration and compliance solution tailored to the needs of emerging managers.

The new solution is designed to deliver comprehensive fund administration, investor services, regulatory filings, and core policies designed for exempt reporting advisers and private fund managers.

According to a press statement, the offering “integrates fund administration and compliance into a single, cost-effective solution, eliminating the need for multiple service providers and providing the infrastructure and regulatory support emerging managers need to establish and scale their funds efficiently”.

As part of this offering, STP provides hands-on consultation to guide new managers through the complexities of launching a fund, and also connects emerging managers with a network of preferred providers, including audit, tax, prime brokerage, and legal firms, who offer competitive, cost-effective pricing on both essential and value-added services.

The technology sector has maintained its position as the most shorted sector for the third consecutive month, with Apple, IBM, Super Micro, SoFi Technologies, and Texas Instruments leading the pack, according to data from Hazeltree.

The company’s February 2025 Shortside Crowdedness Report, which tracks short selling activity across large-, mid-, and small-cap stocks, also identified Kering SA and H&M in the EMEA region, along with Disco Corporation in APAC, as some of the most shorted large-cap stocks.

Hazeltree, a specialist in active treasury and intelligent operations technology for the alternative asset industry, aggregates data from its proprietary securities finance platform, which monitors approximately 15,000 global equities. The data, compiled from a network of around 700 asset manager funds, is anonymised and provides insight into the most heavily shorted securities worldwide. Hazeltree then assigns a Crowdedness Score to each security, ranging from 1 to 99, where 99 represents the highest concentration of shorting activity.

Tim Smith, Managing Director of Data Insights at Hazeltree, noted that while the US tech sector continues to experience layoffs, the pace has slowed compared to last year. Additionally, job postings remain high, and the IT job market continues to contract.

“These trends suggest a market in transition rather than collapse, with tech companies adjusting talent strategies to align with shifting economic priorities,” Smith explained.

In the Americas, Chevron Corporation held steady as the most crowded large cap security for the second month in a row, scoring a perfect 99, while Super Micro Computer followed closely with a score of 91 and maintained the highest institutional supply utilisation at 53.27% for the third straight month.

Dayforce topped the mid-cap category with a Crowdedness Score of 99, while Shift4Payments, Inc had the highest institutional supply utilisation at 35.88%.

In terms of small-cap stocks, Wolfspeed continued its dominance as the most crowded security for the seventh consecutive month, scoring 99, while Enovix Corporation held the highest institutional supply utilisation at 85.91%.

In EMEA, Kering SA and H&M were the top contenders in the large-cap category, each scoring 99. Kering returned to the top for the second consecutive month, while H&M maintained the highest institutional supply utilisation at 76.34% for the eighth month in a row.

Kingfisher plc, BE Semiconductor Industries NV, and Delivery Hero SE were all at the top in terns of mid-cap stocks with perfect scores of 99. Carl Zeiss Meditec AG had the highest institutional supply utilisation at 51.20%.

Alphawave IP Group, meanwhile, remained the most crowded small-cap security for the third month in a row with a score of 99, while Oxford Nanopore Technologies led in institutional supply utilisation at 74.11%.

In APCA, Disco Corporation maintained its position as one of the most crowded large-cap securities with a score of 99 for the second consecutive month, while MTR Corp had the highest institutional supply utilisation at 21.07%.

Mid-ca Kokusai Electric Corporation also secured a perfect score of 99 for the second month in a row and had the highest institutional supply utilisation at 51.66%, while Tokai Carbon Co reemerged as the most crowded small-cap security, with a score of 99 for the second consecutive month. KeePer Technical Laboratory held the highest institutional supply utilisation at 74.51%.

Hedge funds, including Brevan Howard, Capula and Millennium, have upped their leveraged bets on UK government bonds, amplifying concerns over potential instability in the gilts market, a key benchmark for UK borrowing costs, according to a report by Reuters.

The report cites unnamed market sources as highlighting that hedge funds now account for 60% of UK bond trading volumes, up from 53% at the end of 2023 – a trend that has drawn scrutiny from the Bank of England (BoE) and regulators.

BoE Governor Andrew Bailey recently cautioned that hedge fund activity could “propagate liquidity stress” in UK markets, particularly due to their heavy usage of short-term lending in repo markets. Repos (repurchase agreements), a key funding mechanism, have become crucial for hedge funds deploying a range of high-leverage bond trades.

Market sources indicate hedge funds are among the most active players in gilt repo financing, and are currently deploying three main strategies in UK gilts: basis trade arbitrage, whereby speculators buy futures contracts on 10-year gilts while shorting the cash bond, exploiting a pricing discrepancy; inflation trades, whereby funds are shorting 10-year gilts while buying two-year bonds, betting on persistent UK inflation; and momentum-based shorting, which has seen trend-following hedge funds short 10-year gilts for seven of the past nine weeks, according to JPMorgan data.

While these positions represent only a portion of each fund’s portfolio, their combined scale is stretching repo market capacity – raising concerns over liquidity during times of market stress.

The increasing concentration of hedge fund borrowing in UK repo markets has broader systemic implications. The BoE has warned that other financial institutions, including pension funds and insurers, could be squeezed out of repo borrowing – potentially triggering forced asset sales if liquidity dries up.

In January, a gilt market selloff forced UK pension funds to post £3bn ($3.9bn) in additional collateral, exacerbating concerns about repo market fragility. To mitigate this risk, the BoE has introduced a new liquidity facility for gilt holders, though eligibility requirements limit access to institutions holding at least £2bn in UK bonds.

Mining giant Rio Tinto has reaffirmed its commitment to a dual-listed structure and urged shareholders to reject a proposal by activist hedge fund Palliser Capital to review its listings in London and Sydney, according to a report by Reuters.

The hedge fund, alongside more than 100 shareholders, is pushing for a shift to a single Australian listing, arguing that such a move would enhance Rio’s share price and unlock shareholder value. The campaign mirrors past activist efforts, including BHP’s unification in 2022, which followed similar investor demands.

Rio Tinto though has dismissed Palliser’s claims, stating that it has already conducted a comprehensive review of the structure and engaged with key stakeholders, including Palliser. The company maintains that a unification would be value-destructive and unnecessary for strategic flexibility.

“A dual-listed companies (DLC) structure unification is not required to provide the group with strategic flexibility,” Rio Tinto said in a statement on Wednesday.

With annual shareholder meetings scheduled for 3 April in London and 1 May in Perth, the hedge fund’s push sets the stage for a potential showdown. However, resistance from Australian shareholders, who argue that consolidation would erode value, could pose a challenge to Palliser’s ambitions.

Some strategies aren’t new, but what gives them an edge is how they are applied. Such is the case with Regents Gate Capital, co-founded by Joshua White, Yi-Sung Y, and Dane Vrabac. By integrating artificial intelligence into a traditional market-neutral approach, they’ve created a unique investment proposition in an already crowded hedge fund landscape.

It’s been just over a year since Regents Gate launched, employing a fundamental equity market-neutral strategy that exemplifies the edge fund approach.

The investment methodology involves taking long and short positions in stocks based on fundamental analysis, with the goal of remaining neutral to overall market movements. White explains that the strategy prioritises stock-specific risks over broader market factors, creating a differentiated offering particularly attractive to pension funds seeking uncorrelated returns.

This playbook, pioneered by hedge fund major Citadel, is one White knows well, having spent 15 years as a Portfolio Manager there and at Balyasny Asset Management. However, what sets Regents Gate apart is its integration of custom-built artificial intelligence, which the firm claims enables predictions with 70–80% accuracy.

“We’ve taken a proven strategy and evolved it by incorporating more data, making us more informed, more predictive, and more accurate,” says White.

The AI models assess stocks by analysing over 1.5 million data features, including business trends, using an average of 100 data points per stock to forecast performance – establishing a technological edge in a strategy typically dominated by traditional fundamental analysis.

But, whilst AI plays a central role in the investment process, human oversight is present at every step, curating data features and setting key performance indicators (KPIs). The final decision always rests with the team.

“We review trades daily to ensure the most up-to-date fundamentals are reflected in our portfolio, all whilst maintaining tight risk controls,” says White.

The depth of AI-driven analysis aligns well with Regent Gate’s portfolio, which is 90% composed of industrial companies – a sector defined by its numerous moving parts – with consumer and technology firms making up the remaining 10%.

“These are big, complex companies,” says White. “They have numerous product lines across multiple geographies, and their performance is impacted by many external factors.”

Traditional approaches often struggle to predict outcomes for such companies since no single product line dictates success, he explains – highlighting precisely the type of inefficiency that edge funds aim to exploit.

Currently, Regents Gate focuses on developed markets – specifically Europe, the US, and Japan – as these regions are liquid and well understood by the firm and its strategy.

“We don’t cherry-pick, but we focus on where we do a good job and we’ve done a very good job historically,” says White.

For now, Regents Gate has not publicly disclosed its returns.

While mega-funds continue to dominate hedge fund flows and startup numbers decline, a quiet revolution is taking place in the industry’s margins. Investors are increasingly hunting specialised managers who can fill precise portfolio gaps – from employee wellness to sustainable living. 

These emerging niche strategies aren’t just surviving in the shadow of multi-strategy giants; they’re thriving by targeting unexploited market inefficiencies and emerging secular trends. The series would explore how these specialised funds are carving out their space in an industry typically associated with scale, examining their unique value propositions, challenges, and the investors backing their vision.

Veteran hedge fund manager Richard Perry is making a return to the industry, nearly a decade after closing Perry Capital in 2016, with the 70-year-old joining distressed credit specialist Olympus Peak Management as a partner, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report cites unnamed sources familiar with the matter as revealing the return of the former Goldman Sachs merger arbitrage specialist, who founded Perry Capital in 1988 and built it into a $15bn fund at its peak. After three consecutive years of losses and client outflows, he shut down the firm but expressed hope that his legacy would continue.

Now, Perry is teaming up with Olympus Peak founder Todd Westhus – a former Perry Capital executive – and Matt Englehardt, another long-time colleague, to launch a new distressed credit fund. The trio are raising up to $500m, with plans to co-manage the investment committee.

Westhus, who launched Olympus Peak in 2018, was instrumental in some of Perry Capital’s most successful trades, including: a $2bn profit from shorting subprime mortgages during the 2008 financial crisis; a $600m gain on Argentine bonds; and successful bets on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities in 2010.

At Olympus Peak, Westhus has continued that success, profiting from the bankruptcies of Latam Airlines, crypto exchange FTX, and PG&E. The firm’s trade claims fund, launched in 2021, has generated low double-digit net returns, with a win rate exceeding 90%, sources said.

Momentum-driven hedge funds are facing a brutal start to 2025 as shifting economic conditions and geopolitical tensions trigger sharp reversals in previously high-flying trades, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The once-reliable strategy of riding market trends – favouring US tech stocks and betting on US economic outperformance – has been upended, leading to widespread losses across systematic and discretionary hedge funds.

The report cites Societe Generale’s CTA Index as showing that trend-following hedge funds, which typically trade futures based on prevailing price movements, are down 4.3% year-to-date, marking their second-worst start to a year since 2014. Equity-focused momentum strategies have suffered even steeper drawdowns, with one gauge falling 21% in just four weeks up to 10 March, one of the most abrupt declines on record.

The turbulence has also hit exchange-traded funds (ETFs) tracking momentum trades, with BlackRock’s $14bn iShares MSCI USA Momentum Factor ETF seeing $800m in outflows, the largest single liquidation in two years, as investor sentiment toward high-priced US equities soured.

“You’ve got de-risking at the same time as fundamental weakening, at the same time as geopolitical uncertainty,” said Adam Singleton, CIO of external alpha at Man Group, the world’s largest listed hedge fund. “When all of that converges, momentum strategies take a hit.”

Momentum strategies, which profit from extended trends in asset prices, have been caught off guard by sudden reversals across a range of asset classes with once-dominant AI and tech names seeing pullbacks as interest rate concerns and trade risks mount.

The White House’s tariff threats against China, Mexico, and Canada have also led to whipsawing in agricultural markets, erasing early-year gains in corn and soybeans and pressuring commodity-focused hedge funds, while short positions in the Japanese yen – a consensus trade – have been squeezed as renewed concerns over the US economy drove a dollar decline.

The pain has been widespread, affecting both time-series momentum (which follows price trends) and cross-sectional momentum (which bets on relative outperformance within asset classes). According to Hedge Fund Research, 50 of 86 fast-money hedge fund indexes posted losses in February.

Even some of the biggest multi-manager hedge funds, which typically seek uncorrelated returns, struggled as crowded trades unwound. Mulvaney Capital Management, a trend-following fund that surged 83% in 2024, lost 13% in February. Meanwhile, Transtrend’s enhanced risk trend strategy dropped 10% amid commodity market volatility.

Hedge fund performance dipped last month with a weighted average return of -0.3% after a strong start to the year, with several strategy types – including commodity and equity strategies – experiencing a negative month, according to the latest data from asset servicer Citco.

Nonetheless, YTD the weighted average return for hedge funds still stood at 3.7%, and demand from investors was strong, with inflows climbing month-on-month.

All-in-all, some 55% of hedge funds administered by Citco achieved positive returns in February 2025.

Global macro funds led the way with a weighted average return of 2.2%, followed by event-driven funds at 0.2%. All other funds were negative, with a multi-strategy funds performing worst with a weighted average return of -0.7%.

Asset under administration categories also showed diminished performances across the board, with mid-sized funds performing the best. Those with AUA between $500m and $1bn saw a 0.3%, while funds with $1bn to $3bn in assets were up 0.1%. The largest funds, with over $3bn, performed worst, achieving -0.6% weighted average return.

The rate of return spread rose as the difference between 90th and 10th percentile fund returns fell back to 7.4%, from 8.5% in January.

In terms of net inflows, February was a strong month, reaching $3.1bn overall, as investor demand continued.

Funds in the Americas ($2.7bn) and Europe ($1.5bn) both saw positive net inflows in February; with a net outflow of $1.2bn in Asia.

Treasury payments processed by Citco, meanwhile, came in at over 50,000 once again, maintaining the strong start to the year, with a 14% year-on-year increase from February 2024 to reach 53,765.

Digital asset investment products saw a fifth consecutive week of outflows last week, totalling $1.7bn, and bringing the total outflows over this negative run to $6.4bn, according to the latest Digital Assets Fund Flows Weekly report from CoinShares.

Bitcoin saw a further $978m outflows, bringing total outflows over the last five weeks to $5.4bn.

Binance meanwhile, saw almost all its AuM wiped out by a seed investor exit, leaving the firm with just $15m in assets under management.

Hedge fund giant Citadel has hired John Szatmary, a longtime Google engineering leader, as its new Head of Product Security. Szatmary, who is based in New York, has over eight years of experience in the tech sector, according to a report by eFinancial Careers.

At Google, Szatmary held senior engineering management roles, describing his responsibilities as evolving from an engineer “with an idea” to a “more senior engineering manager, director-like” position — focused on “preventing badness both internally and externally.”

Now at Citadel, his mission is straightforward: “keeping secrets secret.” The firm has declined to comment on the appointment, keeping in line with its reputation for discretion.

Szatmary’s move follows a broader trend of hedge funds recruiting top tech talent as firms increasingly rely on cutting-edge security, data science, and artificial intelligence to maintain a competitive edge. While Citadel’s hiring strategy remains largely under wraps, Szatmary’s background in security and risk mitigation suggests a growing emphasis on cybersecurity and proprietary data protection in the hedge fund industry.

UBS Group AG is closing its outsourced trading desk, one of the largest such offerings on Wall Street, as it refocuses its global markets strategy. The bank has begun informing clients of the decision, giving them three months to find an alternative provider, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report cites unnamed sources familiar with the matter AS highlighting that despite shutting down its outsourced trading business, UBS will maintain its execution hub, ensuring continued trading support for its institutional clients. A UBS spokesperson emphasised the firm’s commitment to growth and servicing clients through its global markets division.

Outsourced trading desks have become a critical resource for hedge funds and asset managers, offering execution support during peak periods or even serving as a full replacement for in-house trading teams. As margin pressures mount due to the shift toward passive investing, many funds have turned to outsourcing solutions to reduce costs and improve efficiency.

UBS was a major player in outsourced trading, serving around 100 clients, according to The Trade. The firm was ranked highly in client satisfaction, with half of respondents in The Trade’s Outsourced Trading Survey rating UBS’s service as excellent.

Bridgewater Associates’ Pure Alpha II fund has surged 11.3% year-to-date, capitalising on market turbulence triggered by President Donald Trump’s trade policies, according to a report by Bloomberg citing a source familiar with the fund’s performance.

The fund, which trades across stocks, bonds, currencies, and commodities, saw its gains accelerate in early March, a period when the S&P 500 dropped 5.3% and all G7 currencies appreciated against the US dollar.

Bridgewater’s performance comes as some of its macro hedge fund rivals have struggled. Brevan Howard’s $11.7bn Master Fund slid 1% in early March, extending its year-to-date loss to 5.4%, while DE Shaw’s Oculus fund, which specialises in macro trading, declined 4.4% as of 7 March.

The fund’s 2024 performance mirrors its 11.3% return last year, the best since 2018. However, Bridgewater still trailed some of the largest macro-focused hedge funds in 2023, highlighting the competitive nature of the sector.

Polymer Capital Management, a Hong Kong-based hedge fund with $4bn in assets, is set to launch two Japan-focused funds this year, capitalising on growing investor demand for the world’s third-largest stock market, according to a report by Reuters.

The report cites unnamed sources familiar with the matter as confirming the plan, which aligns Polymer with a broader trend of hedge funds increasing their presence in Japan, as global investors seek exposure to corporate reforms, a rebounding economy, and a strong semiconductor sector.

Polymer’s first new fund will be a $500m equity long-short strategy, allocating capital across its 30 portfolio managers. This strategy will largely mirror its Japanese investments within the flagship Polymer Asia Fund, two sources confirmed.

The second vehicle will be a long-only equity fund, led by Tokyo-based investment veteran Daisuke Nakayama, who previously ran JPMorgan Asset Management’s Japan fund. Since joining Polymer in September 2023, Nakayama’s portfolio has delivered returns exceeding 20% over the TOPIX benchmark, a source noted.

Despite recent market turbulence and global trade uncertainties, hedge funds are doubling down on Japan. A BNP Paribas report found that 20% of surveyed investors plan to increase their hedge fund exposure in the country in 2025. Some 25 new Japan-focused hedge funds have either launched or are in the pipeline since 2024, covering activist, market-neutral, and fundamental equity strategies, according to reports.

Founded in 2019 by former Point72 Asia head Angus Wai, Polymer has quickly emerged as one of Asia’s largest hedge fund platforms, backed by alternative investment giant PAG.
The firm launched its first single-country fund in April 2024, focused on China A-shares, and now operates six offices across Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Sydney, Taipei, and Tokyo. Its main market-neutral Polymer Asia Fund returned 11.6% in 2024.

Jersey-based global macro hedge fund firm Brevan Howard Asset Management is scaling back traders’ risk limits as the firm’s flagship fund faces mounting losses, erasing last year’s gains, according to a report by Bloomberg.

The report cites unnamed sources familiar with the matter as revealing that CEO Aron Landy has moved to reduce risk-taking in response to heightened market volatility, implementing stricter trading limits for some portfolio managers. These defensive measures come as the firm’s $11.7bn Master Fund posted a 1% decline in the first week of March, extending its year-to-date losses to 5.4%, according to an investor letter seen by Bloomberg News. The fund had gained 5.1% in 2023.

Brevan Howard’s Alpha Strategies fund, another of its key vehicles, was also down 0.8% during the week, though it remains up 1.5% for 2024 so far, a separate letter showed.

The $35bn macro hedge fund, co-founded by billionaire Alan Howard, is known for its high-conviction trades in interest rates and currencies. However, its performance has been challenged by increased geopolitical uncertainty and sharp swings in asset prices following Donald Trump’s election victory in November. Rising tensions over trade policies, tariffs, and European defence spending have amplified investor uncertainty.

While the year is still in its early stages, Brevan Howard’s Master Fund has only posted an annual loss exceeding 5% once since its inception in 2003.

Veteran quant trader Jeff Berton has made the leap from investment banking to hedge funds, joining multi-strategy major Millennium as Global Head of Equity Volatility Risk in New York, according to a report by eFinancialCareers.

Berton brings over two decades of experience in quantitative trading and risk management. He spent the last six years at Citi, where he led the firm’s Quantitative Index Strategies (CIS) team while also serving as North America Head of Exotics Trading.

Prior to that, he headed the Quantitative Investment Solutions (QIS) group at Credit Suisse and was previously Head of US Exotics Trading at JPMorgan.

According to FINRA’s BrokerCheck, Berton departed Citi in May 2023, though details of his time out of the market – likely a period of gardening leave – remain unclear. The exact timing of his move to Millennium has not been disclosed.

Syz Capital, the $2bn investment arm of the family-owned Syz Group, has launched the Syz Capital BTC Alpha Fund, a new bitcoin-denominated fund of cryptocurrency hedge funds, with Coinbase acting as prime broker and custodian.

According to a press release, the fund aims to take advantage of market volatility, inefficiencies, and fragmented liquidity to deliver low-volatility, uncorrelated returns, and will build on the success of SyzCrest, which launched in 2023, aligning with Syz Group’s focus on innovation in digital assets.

Strategies include statistical arbitrage, futures basis trading, DeFi liquidity, and market making, all designed to deliver low-volatility, uncorrelated returns. It opens with around 2,000 BTC (approximately $180m).

This strategy is designed for bitcoin holders and corporates, leveraging SyzCrest’s record of 20% annualised returns with 6% volatility, said Richard Byworth, Managing Partner at Syz Capital.

The BTC Alpha Fund is targeting high single-digit annual returns with quarterly liquidity, focusing on low volatility – half the volatility of Syz’s USD-denominated fund at just 3%. The fund charges no management fees, only taking performance-based earnings, aligning the interests of Syz Capital and its investors. The minimum investment is 10 BTC.

Originally designed for Swiss-based bitcoin holders, the fund has attracted interest from corporate treasuries globally seeking reliable yield options. Syz Capital has selected 10 managers from over 300 global candidates.

The fund will hard close on 1 April 2025.

San Francisco City & County Employees’ Retirement System (SFERS) has allocated $100m to Qube Research & Technologies’ flagship Qube Fund, further strengthening its exposure to the multi-strategy hedge fund space, according to a report by Pensions and Investments Online.

The $36.5bn public pension fund disclosed the investment in a report from CEO/CIO Alison Romano, included in materials for its upcoming 12 March board meeting.

The commitment, which closed on 1 March, was executed through San Francisco Absolute Return Investors II (SFARI II), a bespoke limited partnership between SFERS and Blackstone Alternative Asset Management.

SFERS has been an active investor in Qube Research & Technologies, previously committing $75m to the firm’s Torus Feeder 2 fund through SFARI II.

As of 28 February, SFERS’ actual allocation to absolute return strategies stood at 9.6%, just shy of its 10% target.

The additional capital deployment into Qube Fund aligns with the pension’s broader efforts to optimise its hedge fund portfolio while capitalising on the expertise of leading alternative asset managers.

Brad Schneider has rejoined Millennium Management from rival multi-strategy firm Citadel as a Senior Portfolio manager after previously working at the firm between 2018 and 2021, according to a report by eFinancialCareers.

Schneider most recently worked at Citadel’s global equities team from October 2021 to March 2024. His activities between March 2024 and February 2025 are not publicly known, though he may have been under a non-compete agreement.

Before Citadel, Schneider spent nearly three years at Balyasny. His expertise is in real estate equities. Neither Millennium nor Citadel have commented on his return to Millennium.

Hedge fund Anson Funds is preparing for a proxy contest at Match Group, with plans to nominate multiple directors to the online dating giant’s 10-member board, according to a report by Reuters citing sources familiar with the matter.

Anson, which disclosed a 0.6% stake in Match at the end of December, has been pushing the parent company of Tinder, Hinge, and OkCupid to reevaluate its capital allocation strategy, implement cost-cutting measures, and explore a strategic review of its MG Asia business. The fund has also raised governance concerns and pressed for a clearer corporate strategy, the report says.

This year, only three of Match’s 10 directors are up for election, heightening tensions among investors advocating for annual elections of the full board. Anson has flagged long-standing ties between certain directors and former parent company IAC/Interactive as problematic and has expressed concern over the company’s executive turnover – four CEOs in five years – citing it as a destabilising factor.

In response, a Match spokesperson emphasised the board’s commitment to good corporate governance and protecting stockholder interests. The company, now under the leadership of CEO Spencer Rascoff, who took the helm last month, remains focused on business growth and shareholder value creation.

Despite more than a dozen meetings between Anson and Match over the past year – leading to incremental changes such as an investor day and an accelerated capital return policy – Anson remains dissatisfied with the pace of reform.

The campaign is spearheaded by portfolio manager Sagar Gupta, who joined Anson in 2023 to expand its activism strategy. Gupta, a veteran of technology and media investments, previously led similar efforts at Legion Partners and recently joined the board of Five9, a US call centre software firm.

Match’s valuation has plummeted from nearly $40bn at the peak of the pandemic to approximately $8bn today. Its stock has declined 2% year-to-date and 67% over the past three years, significantly underperforming the S&P 500, which gained 41% over the same period.

The company’s depressed valuation has attracted multiple activist investors. In early 2024, Elliott Investment Management disclosed a $1bn position, leading to the addition of two new directors.

Meanwhile, Starboard Value has pushed for a potential sale if Match fails to reinvigorate its business. Regulatory filings show Elliott holding a 4.8% stake and Starboard 5.8% as of year-end 2024.

While Anson’s stake is comparatively smaller, market observers note that activism is no longer dictated by position size.