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Millennium Is Said to Back Hedge Fund Led by Javier Velazquez

Millennium Is Said to Back Hedge Fund Led by Javier Velazquez

(Bloomberg) -- Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management is backing a new hedge-fund startup run by portfolio manager Javier Velazquez, according to four people familiar with the matter.

The fund will be London-based and follow a long-short equity strategy, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The people wouldn’t confirm the size of the fund, Millennium’s investment or when the product will launch. Velazquez declined to comment, as did a spokesman for Millennium.

Millennium’s backing for the startup comes at a time when fewer hedge funds are being launched in Europe. Just 107 new funds have started in the continent in 2017, on track for the slowest year since 2000, data from researcher Eurekahedge show. Investors pumped a net $6.7 billion into hedge funds globally from April to June, following six straight quarters of outflows, according to Hedge Fund Research.

Millennium has backed a number of employees in their own ventures recently, including Sara Nainzadeh’s Centenus Global Management in New York and Ayan Sen’s Navik Capital (Singapore).

Velazquez joined Millennium in London in 2013, before which he worked at GLG Partners. Long-short equity funds seek to make money from both rising and falling stocks.

To contact the reporters on this story: Suzy Waite in London at swaite8@bloomberg.net, Sofia Horta e Costa in London at shortaecosta@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Neil Callanan at ncallanan@bloomberg.net, Paul Armstrong, Andrew Blackman