Man Group Hires Makena’s John Rohal as North America Chairman

Man Group Plc (EMG), the world’s largest publicly traded hedge fund manager, hired John Rohal as its first-ever executive chairman for North America as the London- based firm seeks growth outside the U.K.

Rohal joins on Jan. 1 from Menlo Park, California-based Makena Capital Management LLC, where he oversees the firm’s public equity and so-called tactical hedged equity investments, Man Group said in a statement today.

Rohal will help develop the company’s products for the U.S. market and “deepen Man’s relationships” with institutional clients such as pension funds, foundations and family offices, the statement said.

Man Group shook up its management team in June and has been cutting costs as investors become increasingly cautious about adding money to the $2 trillion hedge-fund industry. Clients worldwide withdrew a net $2.2 billion from Man Group in the third quarter, up from $1.4 billion in the second quarter, the company said in October.

The company has about 400 investment professionals globally, including 50 at its New York-based U.S. operations. The firm manages about $60 billion globally through its AHL, FRM and GLG Partners units.

Man Group declined to specify what proportion of its assets comes from U.S. institutions or comment further beyond the statement.

Makena declined to comment. The firm, which manages $16 billion, was started in 2005 by Michael McCaffery and other managers of Stanford University’s endowment.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Larson in London at clarson22@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net