1 Dec 2015
Investcorp, a leading provider and manager of alternative investment products, today announced a strategic relationship with Kinneret Group (“Kinneret”), a New York-based quantitative equity long/short alternative asset manager led by seasoned investment professional, Mony Rueven. Investcorp will serve as the anchor investor in and provide access to Kinneret’s unique proprietary quantitative equities strategy.
Kinneret was founded in 2011 by Mony Rueven, a 33-year industry veteran who previously spent 12 years at global investment and technology development firm, the D. E. Shaw group, serving as a Managing Director in his last eight years with the firm. Working with Mony are former D. E. Shaw group colleagues, Dr. Alexander Wang and J. Andrew Lindholm. Kinneret seeks to identify long/short securities within the S&P 500 using a differentiated systematic approach that aims for consistent alpha, low net market exposure, and minimal correlation to market and peer group benchmarks.
“Kinneret’s differentiated strategy and the deep expertise of Mony and his team were key factors in our decision to invest,” said Nick Vamvakas, Managing Director, Head of Investcorp’s Seeding and Special Opportunity businesses. “Through this strategic relationship, we will be able to respond to the strong investor demand for quantitative strategies, an otherwise difficult space to penetrate.”
“Investcorp’s investing and analytical acumen, global resources, and entrepreneurial spirit will allow us to continue to grow and secure a meaningful position within the highly competitive quantitative landscape,” said Mony Rueven, Chief Investment Officer of Kinneret Group.
“We are enthusiastic to partner with top talent in the industry as we continue to leverage alternative investment opportunities for our investors,” said Lionel Erdely, Head and Chief Investment Officer of Hedge Funds at Investcorp. “As investor demand is expected to persist in sophisticated quantitative strategies and continues to be a core holding in the portfolios of many hedge fund investors, we believe that this opportunity with Mony and Kinneret will provide investors with a core, high quality hedge fund strategy for their portfolios.”
Prior to launching Kinneret, Mr. Rueven served as a Managing Director of the D. E. Shaw group from 1997 to 2000, and again from 2005 to 2011. During the intervening period prior to rejoining the D. E. Shaw group, Mr. Rueven founded Springline Capital, LLC, a statistical arbitrage hedge fund, which was later integrated into Knight Capital Group. Following the integration, he assumed the role of Senior Managing Director overseeing Knight Capital’s Electronic Trading team and Head of U.S. Enhanced Portfolio Strategies. Over the course of his career, Mr. Rueven has also held senior leadership positions at BNP CooperNeff, State Street Bank, Thompson Financial, Jefferies and Credit Suisse First Boston.
Investcorp’s Seeding Business was launched in December 2004 to provide investors access to select investment talent with the backing of an institutional platform. Through this program, Investcorp stands ready to provide initial seed and acceleration capital ranging from $50 to $100 million as well as operational support to emerging managers with prior management experience and differentiated strategies. Investcorp’s Hedge Funds business was launched in 1996.