Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management has appointed Geoffrey Lauprete, former Chief Investment Officer of WorldQuant, as head of its systematic trading unit Cubist Systematic Strategies, according to a report by Bloomberg.
The report cites an internal memo as revealing that Lauprete is replacing Denis Dancanet, who is leaving after five years to pursue other opportunities.
Lauprete had been preparing to launch his own hedge fund, Libero Capital, with potential backing from Paloma Partners and Blackstone, but opted to join Point72 amid a tougher fundraising environment for new managers. Most of the professionals committed to Libero are expected to join him at Cubist when he starts next month.
Cubist, which oversees nearly 17% of Point72’s $40bn in assets, employs more than 600 staff across 50 investment teams. Under Dancanet, the platform evolved from a collection of siloed pods to include a centralised research group of around 100 people contributing ideas across the portfolio.
Lauprete spent over 17 years at WorldQuant, where he oversaw investment research, risk management and capital allocation, before departing in 2024. He previously held roles at Millennium Management.
