Former SAC Capital executives are raising piles of cash for new hedge funds

Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia:

It seems that the stigma of insider trading scandal that haunts SAC Capital has not rubbed on to many of its former executives who are now raising piles of cash with their own hedge funds, according to a CNBC report.

Jason Karp, Aaron Cowen and James "Jos" Shaver, all SAC alumni, were able to convince investors to trust them with their millions of cash and were responsible for launching the biggest hedge funds last year. The report said more money is coming way for the trio.

Sasha Jensen, founder of hedge fund-focused recruiting firm HFE Search told CNBC, "Investors know it's not fair to paint everyone from SAC with the same brush. They're much more focused on merit to figure out who is a good candidate to invest with or hire. Having SAC on your resume isn't a black mark."

Karp, who worked between 2005 to 2009 at SAC Capital's CR Intrinsic unit as generalist portfolio manager and director of research, launched Tourbillon Capital Partners in Jan. 14, 2013 with $250m in assets. As at Jan. 1 this year, Tourbillon's assets has ballooned to $750m with plans of adding $250m more from investors in the second quarter of 2014. According to the report, former SAC Capital chief investment officer Cowen who worked for the firm from 2008 to 2010, launched the Suvretta Capital Management in October 2012 and generated $165m in capital as of Jan. 1. 2013. Fast forward to Jan. 1, 2014 Suvretta now has $700m in assets after posting a 26.3% gains last year.

Shaver started trading the Electron Capital Partners on May 1, 2012 with $20m in cash. Today, Electron has grown to $191m after posting a 14.72% net of fees from March through December 2013.

"There is very little sense of stigma," one investor consultant told CNBC. SAC Capital's image has been totally tarnished......................

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This article was published in Opalesque's New Managers a top-down monthly analysis, news and research publication on the global emerging manager space.