Mathematical rebirth

9 October 2009 By Richard Beales Follow @richardbeales1

It makes sense for Jim Simons, the Renaissance Technologies boss, to step back now. But coincidentally or not, it s also a moment when many hedge funds are regrouping. Simons has other work to do; his firm s outside investors will be hoping for, well, a renaissance.

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James Simons, founder of quantitative hedge fund firm Renaissance Technologies, will step down from running the firm at the end of this year. He will remain as nonexecutive chairman and but hand the chief executive's desk jointly to Peter Brown and Robert Mercer. The two men are currently copresidents of the firm.

Renaissance manages about $17bn. At its peak, the firm managed $36bn before seeing losses and redemptions in 2008, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The firm's original Medallion fund has returned an average 30% annually since its 1998 inception including a gain of 80% in 2008, according to news reports. The fund has for several years been closed to investors outside the firm.

Simons started the Renaissance Institutional Equities Fund in 2005. The fund was intended to follow a quantitavelydriven US equities investment strategy that beat the S&P 500 index with lower volatility. In 2008, the fund lost some 16% and suffered withdrawals, partly because Renaissance did not prevent investors taking cash out. Through September this year, the fund lost about 9.5% and currently stands at about $5.5bn.

Renaissance also runs a $2.5bn institutional futures fund.

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