Eisler Capital, the smallish multistrategy hedge fund with aspirations to be much bigger, is hiring people. But it probably won’t be using search firm Monroe Partners to do it.
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According to a court case filed in March, Monroe Partners is suing Eisler for breach of contract. Monroe declined to comment and Eisler didn’t respond to a request to elaborate, but we presume that Monroe Partners placed one or more people at Eisler and that Eisler has not paid, or thinks that payment is not relevant.
Speaking off the record, one hedge fund professional says ‘payment not relevant situations’ typically occur when a portfolio manager moves to a hedge fund and then leaves again, either through their own volition, or not. Alternatively, the individual may never turn up at all, but the hedge fund may still be expected to pay a finder’s fee.
Last year, there were various claims that people were joining Eisler and then leaving again after falling out with Eisler’s “marmite” deputy chief investment officer Sam Wisnia. Wisnia has also been described as “extremely inquisitive and bright,” ‘brilliant and fair.” Similarly, Eisler COO Chris Milner has described the fund as “intellectually honest” and “focused on meritocracy.”
Eisler doesn’t appear to have performed well in the early months of this year. A Bloomberg article in early April put its March returns at 0.3% and its Q1 returns as flat. The firm is thought to dedicate a comparatively large proportion of its capital to basis trades, which have been struggling this year.
Eisler Capital is, however, hiring. In February, the FT said it wanted to hire 25 portfolio managers this year. It was subsequently spied hiring a PM from Balyasny. However, Eisler has also continued to be afflicted by swift exits. Ying Zhang, a former associate investment officer at Rokos and trader at JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs spent 10 months there before leaving for Millennium this April.
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