Hedge Fund Athanor Will Return Client Cash in Move to Family Office

(Bloomberg) -- Macro hedge fund firm Athanor Capital is returning client cash to become a family office following almost two years of poor returns.

Started by former D.E. Shaw & Co. senior vice president Parvinder Thiara, the firm managed about $1.8 billion at the start of the year. It will likely return capital to investors in the coming months, according to people with knowledge of the matter. 

The decision follows the death of Athanor president and founding partner Hilario Ramos, who also was the firm’s chief operating officer and chief compliance officer. He died in August at age 49.

Athanor has struggled since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Athanor Master Fund was among the biggest losers in the March 2020 sell-off in global markets -- declining 20%. While it recovered some of the losses, it ended the year down 3.6%, according to an investor document seen by Bloomberg. The fund dropped 13% this year through May and is still in the red for the year.

By contrast, it gained 8% in 2018 and almost 22% in 2019, the document shows. 

Several hedge funds including Field Street Capital Management and Sloane Robinson have recently returned external capital. More than 350 hedge funds have shut this year, according to data compiled by Hedge Fund Research Inc.

Athanor, named after the furnace that alchemists used to generate steady heat, started trading in 2017 and mainly focused bets on interest rates, commodities and equities.

A representative for the firm declined to comment.

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