SACCapital rehires staff it dismissed in January as it revitalises London arm
SAC Capital, the hedge fund firm founded by New York billionaire Steven Cohen, is understood to have hired back two London traders it had previously dismissed.
The group has welcomed back David Morant and Ben Halfacre this week, nine months after they were let go as the group slimmed down amid precipitous losses for the industry at the depths of the credit crunch.
Morant was a partner at SAC for five years before leaving in January, and before that he was an investment manager at Soros Funds, the hedge firm founded by USbillionaire George Soros. He has also worked at the investment arm of US bank JP Morgan. Halfacre previously worked at JP Morgan too.
They left SACat a time of staffing turmoil at its London arm, after 16 staff left in just a few months and the firm hired six new staff. Around the same time it pledged to lay off 30 to 40 people in the US.
But the multi-strategy hedge fund firm, thought to have the highest management fees of any such company, is now beefing its London office up again after the hedge fund industry staged a dramatic comeback.
Figures released yesterday by Hennessee showed hedge funds globally have now grown a stellar 17.3 per cent this year so far.