Hedge funds Citadel and Millennium gain 15% in 2024

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Ken Griffin’s Citadel gained 15.1 per cent in 2024, just ahead of longtime rival Izzy Englander’s Millennium Management, with the two firms beating the wider hedge fund industry in a year dominated by a soaring US stock market.

Citadel’s flagship hedge fund Wellington was up 1.7 per cent in December, while Millennium made 2.5 per cent that month, according to investors, even as global stock markets gave back some ground. Millennium finished the year up 15 per cent.

Citadel has $66bn in assets, while Millennium manages $72.1bn. The two firms declined to comment.

Their founders are pioneers of the multi-manager hedge fund model. These funds trade a wide range of strategies across equities, fixed income, commodities, currencies and other markets.

Citadel and Millennium appear to have outpaced the performance of the wider $4.5tn hedge fund industry last year. Hedge funds on average gained 2.4 per cent in November and are up 10.2 per cent in the first 11 months of 2024, according to Hedge Fund Research. The data provider has not yet published figures for December.

Last year, the S&P 500 index of US blue-chip companies rose 23.3 per cent, on the back of big gains for a handful of tech companies.

Citadel and Millennium both run a market-neutral strategy, which aims to make money regardless of the direction of the market.

Sometimes known as platforms or pod shops, multi-managers typically employ a centralised risk system designed to prevent big losses. The sector has become the most popular segment of the global hedge fund industry, with its promise of consistent returns with low volatility, regardless of market swings, resonating with clients such as pension funds and sovereign wealth funds.

Multi-managers were up 6.8 per cent in the first 11 months of last year, according to HFR. Industry gains last year were led by equity-focused hedge funds, which were up 3.1 per cent in November and 13.1 per cent in the first 11 months of the year. Performance in November was driven by Donald Trump’s US presidential election victory, as managers and investors positioned themselves for more business-friendly policies from the incoming administration.

Citadel and Millennium are among a clutch of large hedge funds to have delivered double-digit gains last year.

Balyasny Asset Management, another multi-manager hedge fund, gained 1.8 per cent in December to end the year up 13.6 per cent, according to a person familiar with the situation. Balyasny declined to comment.

ExodusPoint, a multi-manager hedge fund founded by former Millennium head of fixed income Michael Gelband, was up 11.3 per cent last year, according to investors. ExodusPoint declined to comment.

D.E. Shaw’s flagship multi-strategy Composite hedge fund gained 18 per cent in 2024, and its second-largest fund Oculus, which mainly takes macro bets, surged 36 per cent, its best-ever year, according to a person familiar with the situation. The $65bn firm is expected to give back half of last year’s profits from the two funds to clients, the person said.

D.E. Shaw declined to comment on the figures, which were first reported by Bloomberg.

Dan Loeb’s Third Point Offshore Fund, which focuses on event-driven and value-oriented strategies, lost 1.4 per cent in December and ended 2024 up 24.2 per cent, according to investors. Third Point declined to comment.