Balyasny Asset Management has shrunk its staff by 20 percent, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The multistrategy hedge fund firm led by CIO Dmitry Balyasny has cut 125 employees, including 40 investment professionals, after the firm’s assets under management plummeted by roughly $4 billion amid investment losses and client redemptions. The news was first reported late Monday afternoon by Bloomberg.
A spokesperson for Balyasny declined to comment.
According to Bloomberg, the Chicago-based hedge fund firm expects to start 2019 with $7.3 billion under management — down from $11.3 billion at the beginning of this year. The decline in assets was in part due to poor performance, largely concentrated in equities.
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Balyasny’s Atlas Global Investments fund was down by nearly 4 percent for the year as of November 23, according to investment bank HSBC’s weekly scorecard of hedge fund performance. The Atlas Enhanced Fund had fallen 6 percent over the same period.
Job cuts among the investment staff were performance-driven, according to the person with knowledge of the matter. Thirteen stock teams have been eliminated, with the remaining staff reductions focused on the back office. The changes are expected to reduce infrastructure costs for the firm.
