Less than half a year ago, the discussion around Schonfeld Strategic Advisors was about who would remain at the firm after its larger rival Millennium bought the onetime family office.
After finding large institutional investors to pledge billions, Schonfeld rejected Millennium's takeover offer and trimmed its headcount by more than 10%. Its performance has improved substantially.
The $10 billion manager returned 1.5% last month in its flagship fund, pushing its 2024 returns to 3.3% for the year, sources close to the firm told Business Insider. Its smaller fundamental equity fund gained 1.6% in February and is up 3% in 2024.
A Schonfeld representative declined to comment.
A source familiar with the firm said exposure to quant and tactical strategies, as well as trading in Asia, had been key to the outperformance, but Schonfeld has also been helped along as new traders hired in 2023 get up and running.
Since September, when Schonfeld was drumming up cash and cutting costs, the firm has returned 6.2% in its flagship fund and 7.4% in fundamental equity. Investors who wagered that Schonfeld would right the ship are looking brighter by the month.
Its 2024 performance to date has the New York-based manager leading its multistrategy peers, including Millennium and Ken Griffin's Citadel. Millennium, after a 0.2% gain in February, is up 1.6% so far this year, while Citadel's flagship Wellington fund has made 2.3% in 2024 after a 0.4% gain last month.
Steve Cohen's Point72, meanwhile, is up 2.8% in 2024 after a 1% gain in February. At the back of the pack are Balyasny and ExodusPoint, each of which is up 1% on the year, sources say.
Balyasny, which trailed peers in 2023, was flat last month, while Michael Gelband's ExodusPoint was up 0.7%.
Schonfeld's competition at the top has so far come from smaller peers this year. Sculptor Capital's $8.5 billion Master Fund was up 3.8% through February, while Minnesota-based Walleye — which has plans to expand — gained 3.7% over the same time period.
Here's a rundown of some of the large multimanager returns through February:
Fund | 2024 performance |
Sculptor Master Fund | 3.8% |
Walleye | 3.7% |
Schonfeld Strategic Partners | 3.3% |
Schonfeld Fundamental Equity | 3% |
Point72 | 2.8% |
Citadel Wellington | 2.3% |
Verition | 2.3% |
Millennium | 1.6% |
Balyasny | 1% |
ExodusPoint | 1% |
Representatives for the firms declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.
Correction: March 5, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated the period for some of the returns represented in this story. The performance figures listed are for 2024, not 2023.
