Brevan Is Said to Hire Ex-Goldman Sachs Bond Trader Casulli

(Bloomberg) -- Brevan Howard Asset Management, the hedge fund co-founded by billionaire Alan Howard, hired former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. executive Andrea Casulli, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Casulli, who had also worked at UBS Group AG, joined Goldman Sachs in 2014 as co-head of its European government-bond-trading business with Garry Naughton. The person, who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public, wasn’t specific about his role at Brevan Howard. A spokesman for the hedge fund declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg.

Brevan Howard, whose assets have dropped in recent years from their peak of $40 billion, has seen departures of high-profile staff amid lackluster performance. Its flagship fund this year suffered its worst first-half decline since it began trading in 2003, before making up some of the losses since then. The company is said to be planning a new fund focused on macroeconomic events amid speculation rising interest rates will boost opportunities for profit.

Alan Howard moved back to London from Geneva this past weekend. He’s planning to start a new hedge fund managed solely by him.

To contact the reporters on this story: Lukanyo Mnyanda in Edinburgh at lmnyanda@bloomberg.net, Alastair Marsh in London at amarsh25@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Neil Callanan at ncallanan@bloomberg.net, Ross Larsen