Chris Rokos raises capital to the tune of $900 million from investors to fund the hiring of new portfolio managers he plans to employee this year.
Rokos Capital Management places long and short positions in various equity, fixed income, currency, commodities, and futures markets.
Prior to joining Brevan Howard in 2003, Chris Rokos himself worked for Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse.
“Chris Rokos raises capital to the tune of $900 million from investors to fund the hiring of new portfolio managers he plans to employee this year”
Chris Rokos raises capital for Rokos Capital Management, a London-based $8bn global macro hedge fund is a timely move by the former swaps trader at Goldman Sachs
Many macro fund managers are experiencing an improvement in their performance which has been spurred on by a changing market environment where volatility is increasing due to trade disputes and divergence in interest rates.
Chris Rokos raises capital for new talented hires with the intention of riding the volatility waves to greater profitability
Chris Rokos, whose wealth is estimated at $1.3 billion by the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, had somewhat of a modest year compared to the likes of James Simons Renaissance alpha returns of 1.6 billion USD in 2018. By contrast profits and revenues slumped at Chris Rokos hedge fund.
According to accounts filed at Companies House, profits for the year ending March 31, 2018, were £22.9m, down 85% on the previous year. Revenues fell 63% to £67.1m. The Rokos Global Macro Master Fund lost 3.4 percent in 2017. Moreover, the Rokos hedge fund erased most of the gains for the year to end up with an anemic return of just 2 percent.
“According to accounts filed at Companies House, profits for the year ending March 31, 2018, were £22.9m, down 85% on the previous year. Revenues fell 63% to £67.1m. The Rokos Global Macro Master Fund lost 3.4 percent in 2017”
Chris Rokos raises capital to finance the hiring of a number of key employees
Chris Rokos who has been described as an “exceptional trader,” by his former boss Brevan Howard understands the value of leveraging talented employees.
At Goldman, Chris Rokos was known as the firm’s “star trader” holding massive positions. He reportedly generated $4billion in profits trading securities tied to interest rates for the firm’s flagship Master Fund.
Chris Rokos raises capital in an endeavor to headhunt star traders which could turn around the fund’s fortune and add billions of dollars to the fund’s profits
Part of Chris Rokos $750 million and $900 million capital outlay for expansion entails hiring a small number of talented employees for credit trading and for bets on energy and oil markets. It will also strengthen emerging markets trading following the departure of senior money manager Borislav Vladimirov last year.
“Chris Rokos raises capital could also about deploying a quants strategy”
Chris Rokos raises capital amid many comings and goings at the high-profile hedge fund Rokos Capital Management
Last year marked a busy time for personnel changes at the company. Howard decided to leave the firm for personal reasons, meanwhile, four former Goldman Sachs employees joined Rokos’s operation in Savile Row: Andrius Jankunas, Eelco Batterink, Ronak Shah and Dusan Milijancevic.
Chris Rokos raises capital could also about deploying a quants strategy
Quants, as the developers are called, compose complex mathematical models to detect investment opportunities. The aim of quants, when applied directly to portfolio management, is to add value, alpha or excess returns, like any other investment strategy.
So Rokos Capital Management is hiring (and losing) some big-name quants in London.
Rokos Capital Management has increased its recruitment of quants and starts at its office in London’s Mayfair.
The latest arrival is Eelco Batterink, a former executive director on the quant team at JPMorgan and ex-strat (for seven years) at Goldman Sachs. Batterink joined Rokos as a quant analyst in London earlier this month.
But Rokos biggest and most recent quant hire that went under the radar is Andrius Jankunas, who arrived in October 2018.
Andrius Jankunas was a former managing director and head of EMEA and Asia commodities trading strats at Goldman Sachs, Jankunas joined Rokos as head of quantitative modeling and strategy. He previously spent nearly 18.5 years at Goldman Sachs.
“Zouhair Rajehi, a manager at Rokos and ex-quant at Nomura also left Rokos Capital Management in November and joined Credit Suisse as head of EMEA structured product quants”
In October, Rokos also hired Ronak Shah, a former associate on Goldman’s trading desk. Shah, who graduated in mathematics from Cambridge University, joined as a quantitative strategist in Mayfair.
Other top quant names that left the fund is Vladimir Piterbarg for RBS in July.
Zouhair Rajehi, a manager at Rokos and ex-quant at Nomura also left Rokos Capital Management in November and joined Credit Suisse as head of EMEA structured product quants.
Chris Rokos raises capital, the latest being $900 million and in 2017 the billionaire hedge fund manager also did the capital rounds.
Almost exactly two years to the date, January 2017 Chris Rokos was seeking more than 2 billion dollars.
Chris Rokos raises capital and the question is why can’t the so-called star trader finance Rokos Capital Management organically?
Are hedge funds really about maximizing return on capital or have they become sleek marketing vehicles where their showmanship founders tout the latest buzz fads to attract capital?
