Ken Griffin's Citadel posted a 15.3% return in its main Wellington hedge fund last year, a person with knowledge of the matter said, beating some of its peers as money managers grappled with a challenging 2023.
Izzy Englander's $61 billion firm Millennium Management gained about 10%, another person said, improving from low single-digit returns in the early part of the year.
Eisler Capital, a London-based multistrategy hedge fund, gained 9.8%. The people asked not to be identified because the details are private. Representatives for Citadel, Millennium and Eisler declined to comment.
Markets proved tough to navigate in 2023, when unusually high volatility in the U.S. bond market caught some traders off guard. Meanwhile, equity markets jumped more than many investors expected, with the S&P 500 up 24% for the year, thanks largely to gains from several big technology companies.
Unlike in 2022 when many of the industry's biggest firms boasted strong double-digit gains, multistrategy funds rose just 4.9% last year through November on average, according to PivotalPath.
Cliff Asness' AQR Capital Management posted another year of double-digit returns at its longest-running multistrategy fund, as value wagers helped fuel those gains.
The quant giant's absolute-return strategy jumped 18.5% in 2023 following a record 43.5% the previous year, a person familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing performance.
AQR's gains were helped by stock selection as well as relative value wagers tied to macro investing, the person said. The Greenwich, Conn.-based firm has also benefited from separate trend-following strategies tied to macro and commodities investments.
A representative for AQR declined to comment.
D.E. Shaw & Co.'s biggest hedge fund returned just under 10% in 2023, in a challenging year when the quant firm's peers produced mixed results.
The $60 billion firm gained 9.6% in its flagship Composite fund, according to a person familiar with the matter. The fund makes bets across various asset classes and geographies.
The Oculus fund, which mostly makes macro wagers and is the firm's second biggest, rose 7.8% last year, the person said.
A representative for the New York-based firm declined to comment.
Multistrategy and macro hedge funds posted a wide range of results in 2023, unlike the previous year, when many of the industry's biggest firms boasted double-digit gains. On average, multistrategy funds rose just 4.9% last year through November, according to PivotalPath, while macro funds barely made money with a 1.7% gain.
The firm plans to return all 2023 profits in the two funds to clients.
The composite fund has had only one losing year since its launch in 2001 and has posted double-digit gains in 17 out of the past 22 years.
The firm's Oculus fund has never had a negative year, returning an annualized almost 13% since its 2004 inception.
