Chris Rokos Picks Deutsche Bank, Bank of America as Prime Brokers for $1.5 Billion Hedge Fund
November 13 2015 - 11:22AM
Dow Jones News
By Laurence Fletcher
Star hedge-fund trader Chris Rokos has tapped Deutsche Bank AG
and Bank of America Corp. as the main brokers for his new hedge
fund, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Mr. Rokos, a co-founder of hedge fund Brevan Howard Asset
Management, launched Rokos Capital Management in London at the end
of September with around $1 billion in assets and has since
attracted more than $500 million from Blackstone Group L.P. Mr.
Rokos made billions of dollars for Brevan Howard while trading
there.
Deutsche Bank and Bank of America beat stiff competition from
other so called prime-brokers to win business from the high-profile
trader, according to hedge fund industry sources.
Prime brokers, which are usually large banks, can provide a
range of services to hedge funds such as securities lending,
financing, trade execution, introducing new clients and even
renting out office space. Winning such hedge fund business is
potentially lucrative for banks, who can earn tens of millions of
dollars or more from large clients over the course of a year.
Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank are the three
leading prime brokers in Europe, according to data group
Coalition.
Bank of America's prime brokering presence in Europe is
relatively small. It ranks in the third tier of prime services,
according to Coalition's rankings for Europe, Middle East and
Africa, both for 2014 and the first half of this year.
Bank of America declined to comment.
The mandate comes during a tough period for Deutsche Bank, which
is cutting thousands of jobs and slimming down some operations. The
bank, which is ranked third in the top tier of EMEA prime services
by Coalition for the first half of this year, had a relationship
with Mr. Rokos through his family office before the launch of his
hedge fund.
A spokesman for Deutsche Bank declined to comment.
A spokesman for Rokos Capital Management declined to
comment.
The Rokos launch comes as Mr. Rokos' former employer Brevan
Howard recently cut at least 10% of its roughly 400-strong
workforce after shutting a number of funds. Its flagship Master
fund suffered its first-ever calendar year loss last year and has
seen clients exit. This year it is up 0.3% to November 6.
In January Mr. Rokos and Brevan co-founder Alan Howard settled
out of court a public spat over a noncompete agreement. Mr. Howard
agreed to invest some of his own money in Mr. Rokos's fund.
Mr. Rokos, whose fortune is estimated at GBP400 million ($609
million), according to the Sunday Times Rich List for Britain, is
well-known as a major donor to Britain's ruling Conservative Party.
The Rokos Quad, a new courtyard at Oxford University's Pembroke
College, to which he made a large donation, is named after him.
Write to Laurence Fletcher at laurence.fletcher@wsj.com
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 13, 2015 11:07 ET (16:07 GMT)
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