Chicago-based alternative investment manager Citadel Investment Group has announced the recruitment of Derek Kaufman as a New York-based senior managing director and head of its US fixed-i
Chicago-based alternative investment manager Citadel Investment Group has announced the recruitment of Derek Kaufman as a New York-based senior managing director and head of its US fixed-income business.
Kaufman, who was previously global head of fixed income in JPMorgan Chase’s proprietary positioning group, is the latest in a series of high-level appointments over the past two months and the second from JPMorgan Chase, after Citadel hired Patrik Edsparr as chief executive for Europe and head of its global fixed-income business.
‘Building outstanding teams with top talent is the cornerstone of our business,’ says Kenneth Griffin, president and chief executive of Citadel Investment Group. ‘Industry leaders like Derek Kaufman, along with many others who have joined our team recently and over the years, put us in the very best position to identify and execute on opportunities in the global capital markets.’
Kaufman, who joined JPMorgan in 1996, says: ‘I am excited to lead Citadel’s US fixed-income business, especially during this exceptional time in our markets. I have long admired Citadel’s success in building innovative, cutting-edge businesses and I look forward to joining the team.’
Last week Citadel announced that Nick Taylor would join the firm as a senior managing director and head of principal investments for Asia and Europe. Taylor was previously at Credit Suisse, where he co-founded and led one of the bank’s internal hedge funds, Modal Capital Partners.
‘Expanding our team is critical to the continued growth of our franchise on a global scale,’ Griffin says. ‘Nick Taylor has rare expertise and experience, and he will be a major asset as we extend our investment platform.’
Taylor has worked for Credit Suisse in London, Tokyo and Hong Kong since 1999, having previously been a managing director for proprietary trading at Europe Credit Suisse First Boston and worked on the risk arbitrage desk in Europe for Goldman Sachs. He will report to Tim Throsby, chief executive of Citadel Asia.
On April 10 Citadel announced the appointment of David Noh, who was previously head of corporate principal investments for the Pacific rim at Merrill Lynch, as a senior managing director and head of Asian merchant banking.
Noh, who will be based in Hong Kong and report to Throsby, had been with Merrill Lynch since 2000, leading corporate investment opportunities in the Pacific rim and co-founding Merrill’s distressed debt group in Hong Kong. He previously worked for Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong and for Morgan Stanley in Korea, having begun his career with Ernst & Young.
Last month Edsparr joined Citadel as chief executive for Europe and head of its global fixed-income business, including securitised products. At JPMorgan Chase, he was a member of the executive committee and held various positions including global head of rates, foreign exchange, securitised products, fixed income, exotics and hybrids, propriety trading and principal investments. Before joining JPMorgan Chase in 1996, Edsparr was active in mortgage derivative strategies at Lehman Brothers.
Citadel also appointed Kaveh Alamouti as a senior managing director responsible for the firm’s soon-to-be-launched multistrategy macro investment business as well as leading a team to develop and launch new alternative investment strategies. He previously managed a global macro and multistrategy business at Moore Capital, having earlier led the European arbitrage and proprietary trading businesses at Salomon Brothers, run Tokai Bank’s global proprietary trading and arbitrage group and founded Optimum Asset Management.
Citadel is a provider of alternative investment strategies and services with some 1,200 professionals at offices in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Bermuda, London, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
