Qube Research hires ex-Balyansy hedge fund founder who closed fund last year
Founding a hedge fund is risky business, and for hundreds of fund founders per year, it doesn't work out. Stephen Irvine was one such founder who ended up shuttering his hedge fund, Lijaro, last March; he's now found safe haven in a fast-growing quant fund that's starting to hire non-quants.
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Irvine has joined Qube Research & Technologies as its head of fundamental analyst research, based in London. Before his year on the sidelines, he spent four and a half years running Lijaro. The fund, which employed 9 people according to its last SEC filing, had positive returns in its first two years, but negative returns in the subsequent two years, and was on track for a third negative return when Lijaro shuttered its doors.
Irvine founded the fund after a five-year stint at Balyasny where he was a portfolio manager and head of its London office. Qube is known for having a strong ex-Credit Suisse contingent, but Irvine spent the bulk of his career at a different Swiss bank, spending 13 years at UBS.
Qube, meanwhile, has been growing rapidly. It hired hundreds of employees over the past year and is continuing to grow by opening new offices in areas like Poland. While the fund has historically had a quant focus, Business Insider reports that Qube is diversifying by building a human trader contingent that could reach ~100 people in the next few years.
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