Jefferies to Spin Out Quant Hedge Fund With Some Staff Leaving

(Bloomberg) -- Jefferies Financial Group Inc. is spinning out its systematic hedge fund Quantport, with some staff leaving the firm.

Jefferies may retain an interest in the new venture, and the shakeup was in the works before the pandemic, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The New York-based fund, which had regulatory assets under management of $3.7 billion as of January, started as part of Jefferies’ proprietary trading desk, before overseeing external money from 2010. Led by Vlad Portnoy, it trades market-neutral strategies in equities and futures.

The news was reported earlier by eFinancial Careers.

The past few years have seen a number of systematic funds shut as growing competition and muted market swings eroded gains from their strategies. This year’s historic volatility has also been challenging, as the fallout from the coronavirus upended the price patterns underpinning many quant models.

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