Capula Investment Management is expanding further into systematic trading with the launch of a new commodities strategy, the Capula Alternative Markets Alpha Fund, a quantitative Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) strategy, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The fund is led by Yao Hua Ooi, a former AQR Capital Management trader who helped develop the investment firm’s $6.3bn Helix systematic strategy.
The report cites unnamed people familiar with the matter as revealing that London-based Capula is currently discussing the new fund with prospective investors and is understood to be targeting between $2bn and $3bn of capacity.
Capula, which manages about $35bn, reportedly declined to comment, while AQR also did not comment.
Ooi spent roughly two decades at AQR, where he was a principal before leaving the firm last year to join Capula. At AQR, he was part of the team responsible for building and running Helix, a systematic strategy that traded across a range of markets.
The firm has been steadily broadening its investment capabilities. Last year it recruited John Anderson, formerly global co-head of fixed income and commodities at Millennium Management, to spearhead the development of its multi-strategy platform.
Capula has also been increasing its presence in commodities, recently hiring two energy traders as part of that expansion.
The firm has meanwhile begun allocating capital to external managers, including a $450m investment in multi-strategy hedge fund Cinctive Capital Management.
