Odd Lots

Dan Morillo on the Math Behind Multi-Strategy Hedge Funds

Daniel Morillo, head of quantitative investments at Freestone Grove Partners LP, during the Bloomberg Invest event in New York, US.

Photographer: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg
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Multi-strategy hedge funds are still all the rage on Wall Street, but what does it actually mean to be a pod shop and how are they being set up? On this episode, we speak with Dan Morillo, co-founder of Freestone Grove Partners and formerly a partner and head of equity quantitative research at Citadel (one of the most successful multi-strats out there.) While lots of people tend to talk about multi-strategy hedge funds as one big blob, he argues that there are important differences in their business models. We talk about how he identifies top portfolio managers, managing crowding risk, and the math behind compensation, scale and returns. This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.