Senior Quant Issam Bazzi Is Leaving Cubist, Quant Arm of Point72

A senior chief on the quant division of $46 billion hedge fund Point72 Asset Administration is leaving the agency, based on individuals conversant in the matter.

Issam Bazzi, a senior quant who helped lead the buildout of a centralized buying and selling unit at Cubist Systematic Methods, is out after almost three years on the hedge fund.

Bazzi’s group had struggled performance-wise for months and had been down as a lot as $70 million this yr, Enterprise Insider has realized.

A Point72 consultant declined to remark. Bazzi didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark.

Bazzi’s exit comes a number of months after a stunning management shake-up at the top of Cubist, with president Denis Dancanet leaving and ex-WorldQuant exec Geoffrey Lauprete taking his place.

Constructing a centralized buying and selling unit, akin to a conventional collaborative quant fund, to commerce alongside the handfuls of impartial pods was a key initiative for Dancanet when he joined in 2020. The agency spent tens of tens of millions luring high expertise, however none extra vital than Bazzi, a Citadel Securities veteran who additionally overlapped with Dancanet at quant hedge fund PDT.

Amid the adjustments final September, Bazzi’s destiny on the agency was fodder for market chatter, however in October, he and billionaire founder Steve Cohen negotiated a deal for him to remain on, Enterprise Insider beforehand reported.

Cubist, which had about 60 investing groups along with the central group as of final fall, is not a stand-alone fund buyers can allocate to with individually reported returns and its efficiency flows into Point72’s total returns. Point72 had returned 4.5% via February, and like many funds it began March with losses amid turmoil from the Iran Battle.

Roughly two-thirds of the cash managed by Point72 is dedicated to inventory selecting, with the rest divided between Cubist and its macro buyers. The unit’s 2026 efficiency is not clear.