Billionaire investor Steven Cohen has seen his return to managing investors’ money in the UK blocked by the country’s financial regulator — potentially scuppering one of London’s biggest hedge fund launches of recent years.
Cohen was banned from managing third-party funds in 2014 following an insider trading scandal at his former firm SAC Capital, but these restrictions were lifted in January.
His rebranded Point72 Asset Management has been busy hiring staff and expanding into new office space ahead of a highly-anticipated return to hedge fund investing.
But these plans are now in jeopardy after the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority decided against allowing Cohen to open his fund up to money from investors in Britain, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The news was first reported by the Financial Times. The FCA declined to comment on the reasons for its decision. It is not known whether Point72 will reapply for authorisation. The firm declined to comment.
Cohen launched Point72 during his time away from the hedge fund industry as a place from which to oversee roughly $11bn of his own fortune. His track-record in the years running up to his ban led to reports of strong investor demand for his new fund.
Financial News reported in January that Point72 had leased an additional 6,000 square feet of office space in St James’s Square in preparation for managing new money again.
The firm set up in London in 2016, hiring Will Tovey, the former head of Barclays’ equities distribution business in Europe, to run the office. Around 50 employees are employed by Point72 in the UK capital.
Along with former GLG and Moore Capital trader Greg Coffey, Cohen’s has been one of the most closely-watched returns to London’s hedge fund community — largely based in Mayfair — in recent times.
