Citadel Said in Talks to Sell Investment Bank, Shut Research

Ken Griffin, founder of $11 billion hedge fund Citadel LLC, is in talks to sell his investment bank and is shutting its equity-research group, ending a three-year effort to build a business he said would rival Goldman Sachs Group Inc., according to two people briefed on the move.

Citadel Securities will disband the research team headed by Jaine Mehring, a former managing director at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., said the people, who asked not to be identified because the decision hasn’t been made public. It’s also firing employees elsewhere in the investment bank, the people said.