Eisler Capital has hired Balyasny Asset Management portfolio manager Jeff Russel as head of its fundamental equity long-short business, according to people familiar with the matter.
Russel has worked at Balyasny since October 2020. Prior to that, he spent over eight years at Citadel where he was a portfolio manager, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Russel will lead London-headquartered hedge fund Eisler’s fundamental equity long-short business from its New York office. Eisler has 10 offices worldwide including San Francisco, Milan, Paris, Jersey, and Malta.
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The hedge fund is planning to expand its global footprints with a new office in Dubai later this year, joining the likes of Millennium, ExodusPoint and Balyasny in opening in the Middle East finance hub.
Eisler has a team of roughly 300 people managing over $4bn in assets. The hedge fund returned 9.8% in 2023, according to people familiar with the situation.
Eisler has more than 60 portfolio management teams across fixed income, equity, macro and commodities.
Eisler has been expanding its portfolio management and business development teams lately. The hedge fund hired Investec director Amar Bhachoo as a portfolio manager earlier this month. In December, Bank of America quantitative analyst Alexander Thornton joined Eisler as a quantitative strategist.
Eisler also hired Bank of America fixed-income sales manager Josh Miller as a business development manager in November.
Eisler’s profit soared 73% in 2022 on the back of the firm’s strong performance. The hedge fund’s highest-paid director received remuneration of $4.2m in 2022, compared with $2.4m in 2021, according to Companies House filings.
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