Balyasny's poor November drags its performance below its multi-strategy peers. Here's how 13 firms s ·
Andrew Rivera
- Balyasny lost 1.2% in November, bringing its year-to-date returns to just 1.5%.
- The Chicago-based fund has had heavy PM turnover in equities recently, including two new exits.
- Citadel's flagship leads the way among multi-strategy funds, gaining another 0.9% in November.
A rough November has put Dmitry Balyasny's namesake firm squarely behind its main multi-strategy rivals.
This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? Log in.Balyasny lost 1.2% last month, bringing the $21 billion Chicago-based fund to 1.5% for the year, according to people familiar with the numbers.
By comparison, Ken Griffin's flagship fund, Wellington, was up 0.9% last month and 14.8% for the year. Steve Cohen's Point72 notched returns of 1.3% in November to bring its 2023 returns to 9.8%. Izzy Englander's Millennium returned 1.2% last month and is up 9.7% for 2023. DE Shaw's flagship fund was up 0.3% for the month, and the firm's year-to-date returns are now 9.6%.
Balyasny has made several personnel moves in recent months as it shakes up its equities operation. Barry Duong and Tariq Chaudhri, who both traded sizable books for the fund, are the latest in a string of stock-picking portfolio manager departures, according to people with knowledge of the exits. The firm's head of equities, former Citadel executive Jeff Runnfeldt, left the firm in October, and founder Balyasny has taken the reins of the group, hiring seven PMs over the last two months, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Balyasny's fund was not the only multi-strategy firm that fell in November, and most of the industry lagged far behind the S&P 500, which returned 8.9% in November and is now up 19% in 2023. London-based LMR Partners was down 0.1%, which brought its year-to-date return to 4.3%.
Much-maligned Schonfeld, fresh off of turning down Millennium's quasi-takeover offer, had one of the strongest months of performance among peers, up 1.9% in its flagship Strategic Partners fund in November. That fund is up 3.1% this year through the first eleven months, while its fundamental equities fund, which returned 1.9% last month, is up 4% this year.
The firms named either declined to comment or did not immediately return requests for comment.
Here's the full breakdown of the leaderboard heading into the last month of the year:
| Fund | November performance | Year-to-date performance |
| Citadel Wellington | 0.9% | 14.8% |
| Sculptor | 1.9% | 12.4% |
| Point72 | 1.3% | 9.8% |
| Millennium | 1.2% | 9.7% |
| DE Shaw Composite | 0.3% | 9.6% |
| Eisler | 0.1% | 7.8% |
| ExodusPoint | 0.6% | 6% |
| Hudson Bay | Flat | 4.5% |
| LMR | (0.1%) | 4.3% |
| Schonfeld Fundamental Equities | 1.9% | 4% |
| Marshall Wace | (0.1%) | 3.8% |
| Schonfeld Strategic Partners | 1.9% | 3.1% |
| Carlson Capital | 1.4% | 1.9% |
| Balyasny | (1.2%) | 1.5% |
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