LONDON (Reuters) - Leading European hedge fund firm Brevan Howard has cut around 50 support staff across its global operations, a source familiar with the matter on Friday said, as part of a plan to focus on its flagship macro-economic funds business.
The move comes after a tough period for Brevan Howard's $2.9 billion macro hedge fund, which recorded its first annual loss in 2014. The fund was down 0.7 percent in September, resulting in a year to date loss of 1.1 percent, performance data seen by Reuters showed.
In a statement issued by the company, Brevan, which has offices in a slew of global financial centres including London, Geneva and New York, said it had cut the largely back and middle office staff following a decision to exit certain non-core funds.
The firm, which is headed up by billionaire veteran investor Alan Howard, has made some high-profile hires earlier in the year to bolster its investment team, which specialise in bets on interest rates, currencies and fixed income markets.
These include Roberto Hoornweg, formerly global co-head of fixed income at UBS, Michael Lyublinsky, formerly global head of trading at RBS (L:RBS), Scott Eichel formerly global head of asset backed products and U.S. credit at RBS and Pravin Mouli, formerly head of Latin American rates trading at Barclays (L:BARC) Capital.