By Lawrence Delevingne
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Laurion Capital Management has shut a large hedge fund that bet on macroeconomic trends, according to people familiar with the situation.
The approximately $1.1 billion Laurion Capital Global Markets Fund, launched in 2012, closed in recent months following a loss of 4.6 percent this year through April, according to one of the people. The benchmark Hedge Fund Intelligence Americas Macro Index gained 1.16 percent over the same period.
Investors in the Global Markets fund, such as the state of New Jersey, were given the option to transfer their assets into the main Laurion Capital fund, the firm's other vehicle that pursues a similar global relative value strategy but with less volatility, according to the people.
New York-based Laurion, founded in 2005 by JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) veterans Benjamin Smith and Sheehan Maduraperuma, managed $3.1 billion at the end of June, according to one of the people. Given December 2015 assets of $3.37 billion, that means most clients chose to transfer their money rather than redeem.
Joseph Perone, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of the Treasury, which had $100 million in each of the two Laurion strategies as of April, said in a statement that "the funds will be redeployed as the team identifies opportunities." Perone did not clarify if the money from the macro fund would be kept with Laurion.
Sara Vavra, a representative for Laurion, declined to comment.