Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management has made no money this year and barely posted a gain in 2016. Even so, he’s set an audacious goal: raising close to $10 billion in outside capital next year.
Cohen plans to combine the new money with most of his family war chest of $11 billion, bringing the total to about $20 billion, according to people familiar with his family office. If successful, it would be the biggest hedge fund launch ever and the billionaire would manage more money than he did at his peak.
Cohen is seeking to return to managing money for external clients after he was barred from doing so by regulators until 2018. His predecessor firm, SAC Capital Advisors, pleaded guilty to securities fraud in 2013, and agreed to pay a record $1.8 billion fine and convert to a family office.
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Since then Point72 has lost many of its seasoned traders and has sought out younger managers. He has even started a training program for recent college graduates called Point72 Academy.
Cohen’s returns are flat this year through mid-May, said the people who asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The roughly year and a half of close to zero returns marks the second-worst performance stretch for Cohen, who is used to making money regardless of the market environment. When he ran SAC, the firm averaged returns of about 30 percent annually, and posted only one losing year, in 2008, when its main fund dropped almost 28 percent.
In order to prepare for new clients, Cohen started Stamford Harbor Capital last year, led by a longtime deputy, Peter Boyle. The firm hired a third-party marketing company run by Douglas Blagdon, who was global head of marketing and investor relations at SAC to meet with potential investors to discuss terms.
Mark Herr, a spokesman for Point72, declined to comment on the firm’s performance or money raising target. The Wall Street Journal earlier Tuesday reported on the fund raising goal.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.
