Steve Cohen's Point72 Asset Management has opened to new cash and raised more than $1.5 billion in commitments in a matter of days, according to people familiar with the matter.
The move comes after the hedge fund firm provided $750 million in emergency cash to Gabe Plotkin's Melvin Capital, which was struggling with GameStop and other short bets gone sour. Citadel's hedge funds, along with founder Ken Griffin and his firm's partners, put $2 billion into Melvin. By the end of last month, Melvin sunk 53% after retail investors banded together online to push up the prices of GameStop and other popular targets of short-sellers.
Point72 is raising the fresh cash because it sees investment opportunities in the market, one of the people said, asking not to be identified because the information isn't public. The firm had about $18.9 billion in assets as of October.
The hedge fund fell about 9% in January, the people said. Before its recent cash injection, Point72 had about $1 billion invested in Melvin. A spokeswoman for the Stamford, Conn.-based firm declined to comment.
Point72 was one of the biggest hedge fund launches of 2018, when Mr. Cohen returned to the industry after a 2-year ban from managing other people's money. He attracted $5 billion of outside money at its start.