AllianceBernstein said in a statement Wednesday night that it will not acquire long/short equity hedge fund Visium Global Fund, after Citadel Group confirmed it is hiring most of the fund's investment team.
"Having determined that an opportunity involving the Visium Global Fund is not feasible, we will not proceed with the transaction," the statement said.
Jonathan Freedman, an AB spokesman, and Jonathan Gasthalter, a spokesman for Visium, did not immediately respond to requests for further comment.
On June 17, Visium Asset Management announced that the firm would close and that its five funds, with assets totaling $7 billion, would be sold or closed after three of its employees were charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with insider trading and/or fraud. The Visium Global Fund was the only fund that Visium Asset Management tried to sell.
On July 21, multistrategy hedge fund manager, Citadel Group, confirmed it is hiring 15 portfolio managers from the Visium Global Fund team and two others from its health-care business.