Hedge Fund ExodusPoint Opens for New Cash to Raise $1 Billion

ExodusPoint Capital Management is reopening to raise fresh cash for the first time in three years as the multi-strategy hedge fund firm looks to grow its team of traders and asset base.

(Bloomberg) — ExodusPoint Capital Management is reopening to raise fresh cash for the first time in three years as the multi-strategy hedge fund firm looks to grow its team of traders and asset base.

The firm co-founded by Michael Gelband and Hyung Lee is in talks with investors to raise $1 billion by year-end, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The fund managed $12.5 billion as of July 1, down from $13 billion at the end of last year. It had been closed to new money since September 2020.

A spokesperson for the New York-based firm declined to comment.

The move comes as investors buy into hedge funds that rely on teams of traders to produce steady returns. Such firms raised $1.8 billion this year through July when the industry as a whole had about $43 billion in outflows, according to data compiled by eVestment. Many of the sector’s biggest players such as Millennium Management and Citadel are closed to new money.

ExodusPoint has been adding traders and has hired about 40 portfolio managers in the past year. Recent hires include Michael Lapsa as head of systematic strategies, Adam Galeon as head of the long-short equities operation and Pete McConnon as senior managing director for fixed income and macro trading.

Gelband, a onetime heir apparent to Millennium founder Izzy Englander, struck out on his own in 2018 and broke fundraising records for a hedge-fund startup by raising $8 billion. BlackRock Inc., Blackstone Inc., UBS Group AG and Goldman Sachs Asset Management have put their clients’ money to work at ExodusPoint.

Since its debut, the firm has struggled to build out its equities group, with Gelband’s fixed-income operation comprising the bulk of ExodusPoint’s performance. The fund was up 4% this year through August.

ExodusPoint has previously reopened to gather fresh cash. In 2020, it raised more than $3 billion and turned away billions more. The firm employs about 650 people.

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