DE Shaw & Co is preparing to close its Lithic strategy to new investors, continuing a broader trend among large hedge funds of limiting asset growth even as demand for hedge fund exposure remains strong, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The report cites unnamed people familiar with the matter as revealing that the multi-strategy firm is expected to halt inflows into the Lithic fund as soon as next month. The strategy currently manages in excess of $5bn in assets, those sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity as the information has not been made public.
DE Shaw reportedly declined to comment on the plans.
The move would add to a series of capacity-management steps taken by the New York-based investment firm, which oversees more than $90bn in assets. Its flagship multi-strategy vehicles, Composite and Oculus, have already been closed to new capital and are in the process of lengthening redemption periods, Bloomberg has previously reported.
The firm has also been consolidating its fund lineup, including the closure of smaller strategies such as Valence and its Multi-Asset Fund, as part of a broader effort to streamline offerings and manage liquidity across vehicles.
Industry-wide, a growing number of hedge funds have been restricting access to new subscriptions in order to preserve flexibility and avoid performance dilution. The approach is increasingly common among large managers running complex, multi-strategy portfolios where scale can reduce agility in executing trades.
Launched in 2022, Lithic is designed to combine systematic global single-stock exposure, systematic macro trading, and discretionary opportunistic strategies, alongside tail-risk hedging intended to mitigate exposure during periods of market stress.
