CQS, one of the largest UK hedge funds set up by Sir Michael Hintze in 1999, has started 2015 by adding two senior hires to its ranks including the former head of equity exotics trading at Barclays investment bank.
Nick Nassuphis, who has been running his own hedge fund North Harbour Capital since leaving Barclays in 2011, has just joined CQS, according to filings on the Financial Conduct Authority register, while Adel Oucherif, who previously worked at Blackstone Group and Mount Kellett Capital, joined as a portfolio manager in February.
Headcount is now up on this point last year, but after a peak in September, some senior employees have headed for the door. Chris Boas, a former Morgan Stanley MD who joined CQS as a senior portfolio manager in 2013 after shelving plans to launch his own hedge fund, left the firm late last year, according to regulatory filings. Meanwhile, Peter Barnett who was working on the fund’s directional opportunities fund, has also left.
CQS recently released accounts for the group for the 12 months to 31 December 2013 on Companies House. It posted profits of $44.2m, compared to $20.9m in the previous year.
Headcount increased from 65 people to 81 at the end of 2013 and pay costs increased from $6.5m to $11.5m. This averages out as $141k a head.