It’s no secret that hedge fund BlueCrest Capital Management has been among the most aggressive recruiters of the past 12 months. It’s hired traders from Brevan Howard, Nomura, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and, latterly, SAC Global Investors’ London office, as it has expanded into a new equity trading platform.
This is showing no signs of abating just yet. Rodrigo Rodriquez, former managing director and head of developed Europe cash trading at Credit Suisse, signed up as a partner and portfolio manager in late 2013, as did Nabil Oujjane, an index arbitrage fund manager at Dexia Alternative Investment. Both will be working on the new equities fund, and their recruitment shows an ongoing desire to recruit from investment banks after BlueCrest also lifted an entire team of traders from Nomura last year.
More recently, though, it’s turned its attention to the fallout from the closure of SAC’s London office. Having already taken on Lia Forcina and Alid Shirinbekov as portfolio managers in October, it’s also added Mauro Pizzi, a former portfolio manager at SAC and founder of Urwick Capital, and SAC research analyst Giovanni Rubino.
This is the latest in a series of hires from rivals for BlueCrest, which has also poached a team of traders, including Wayne Leslie and Jason Feasey, from Brevan Howard in October.
BlueCrest received a $750m loan from 16 banks last year, which has helped fund the expansion, according to Bloomberg. The hedge fund has increased its front office staff by 43% in the UK throughout 2013, and now employees over 250 people.