Systematica Investments
{{Short description|Geneva-based quantitative investment management firm}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2023}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Systematica Investments Limited
| logo = Systematica Investments.png
| logo_size =
| trading_name =
| former_name =
| type = Private
| industry = Investment management
| predecessor = BlueTrend
| founded = {{Start date and age|2015|01}}
| founder = {{Unbulleted list
|Leda Braga
}}
| hq_location_city = St Helier
| hq_location_country = Jersey
| key_people = Leda Braga (CEO)
| products = Hedge funds
Quantitative finance
| aum = US$15 billion (2024)
| owners = Affiliated Managers Group
| num_employees =
| parent =
| website = {{URL|https://www.systematica.com/}}
}}
Systematica Investments (Systematica) is a quantitative investment management firm. It is focused on a quantitative and systematic approach to investing.
The firm is headquartered in Jersey with additional offices in Geneva, London, New York, Pasadena, Singapore and Shanghai.
Background
The origins of Systematica can be traced to BlueTrend, a computer-driven fund using a managed futures strategy that was part of BlueCrest Capital Management. It was founded in 2004 by Brazilian-born Leda Braga. From 2004 to 2014, the fund averaged a return of over 11% a year and was one of BlueCrest's largest funds.{{Cite news |last1=Chung |first1=Juliet |last2=Fletcher |first2=Laurence |date=26 September 2014 |title=BlueCrest Spinning Off BlueTrend Hedge Fund Into New Company |language=en-US |work=Wall Street Journal |url=http://online.wsj.com/articles/bluecrest-spinning-off-bluetrend-hedge-fund-into-new-company-1411736425 |access-date=16 October 2023 |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=29 September 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140929035636/http://online.wsj.com/articles/bluecrest-spinning-off-bluetrend-hedge-fund-into-new-company-1411736425? |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Delevingne |first=Lawrence |date=11 February 2015 |title=Woman's $8.2 billion firm is off to a huge start |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/11/leda-bragas-82-billion-hedge-fund-firm-systematica-is-off-to-a-huge-start.html |access-date=16 October 2023 |website=CNBC |language=en |archive-date=16 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016180508/https://www.cnbc.com/2015/02/11/leda-bragas-82-billion-hedge-fund-firm-systematica-is-off-to-a-huge-start.html |url-status=live }}
In late 2014, there were plans to spin off BlueTrend into a separate new firm by the end of the year. It would be named Systematica Investments and would be led by Braga to manage the BlueTrend branded funds. This came at the time BlueCrest was having performance issues and investors were withdrawing money from it. The spinoff would allow BlueTrend to control risk and to exclusively focus on serving its investors.{{Cite news |date=26 September 2014 |title=BlueCrest Spins Off Braga's BlueTrend, Fires Managers |language=en |work=Bloomberg.com |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-09-26/platt-s-bluecrest-spinning-off-leda-braga-s-bluetrend-funds |access-date=16 October 2023 |archive-date=13 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160313055943/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-09-26/platt-s-bluecrest-spinning-off-leda-braga-s-bluetrend-funds |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=8 November 2015 |title=Platt's BlueCrest Sells Stake in Braga's Systematica to AMG |language=en |work=Bloomberg.com |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-08/bluecrest-sells-most-of-its-stake-in-braga-s-systematica-to-amg |access-date=16 October 2023 |archive-date=19 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519064720/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-11-08/bluecrest-sells-most-of-its-stake-in-braga-s-systematica-to-amg |url-status=live }}
In January 2015, BlueTrend was spun off as Systematica Investments which would use computers to mine large data sets to find investment opportunities along with algorithmic trading techniques. It would be controlled by Braga and her team although BlueCrest would still have a 49% stake in it. At the time, the firm had around 8.4 billion in assets under management (AUM) and 100 employees. Its flagship fund was named BlueTrend.{{Cite news |last=Wigglesworth |first=Robin |date=9 November 2015 |title=AMG buys stake in Leda Braga's hedge fund |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/b2155660-8678-11e5-90de-f44762bf9896 |access-date=16 October 2023 |archive-date=16 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016180508/https://www.ft.com/content/b2155660-8678-11e5-90de-f44762bf9896 |url-status=live }}
In November 2015, BlueCrest sold of the majority of its stake in Systematica to Affiliated Managers Group (AMG). AMG's then-CEO, Sean Healey stated the deal was agreed on after he met with Michael Platt at 5 Hertford Street for dinner in Spring that year. A key recommendation came from Andrew Feldstein who had previously worked at BlueCrest and lafter founded his own firm BlueMountain Capital Management. At this time Systematica's AUM figures had supposed those of BlueCrest.{{Cite news |last=Fletcher |first=Laurence |date=8 November 2015 |title=BlueCrest Capital Management to Sell Majority of its Stake in Leda Braga's Systematica |language=en-US |work=Wall Street Journal |url=http://www.wsj.com/articles/bluecrest-asset-management-to-sell-majority-of-its-stake-in-leda-bragas-systematica-1447007798 |access-date=16 October 2023 |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=16 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016180510/https://www.wsj.com/articles/bluecrest-asset-management-to-sell-majority-of-its-stake-in-leda-bragas-systematica-1447007798 |url-status=live }}
In November 2017, Systematica received a $120 million backing from Old Mutual Global Investors to launch a UCITS product in Europe named Systematica Alternative Risk Premia (SARP) which was aimed at retail investors.{{Cite news |last=Walker |first=Owen |date=13 November 2017 |title=Hedge fund star targets retail investors |work=Financial Times |url=https://www.ft.com/content/1b9bba5a-c738-11e7-ab18-7a9fb7d6163e |access-date=16 October 2023}}
In January 2022. Braga and AMG acquired BlueCrest's remaining stake in Systematica effectively ending Systematica's ties to BlueCrest.
From 2022 to 2024, Systematica recruited a team of “feature engineers” to introduce and format alternative data sources for its investment strategies.{{Cite web |last=Brumpton |first=Harry |date=September 30, 2024 |title=Hedge Fund Systematica Taps a New Type of Whiz to Wrangle Data |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-29/hedge-fund-systematica-taps-a-new-type-of-whiz-to-wrangle-data |access-date=2024-11-12 |website=Bloomberg News}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|https://www.systematica.com/}}
{{Hedge funds}}
Category:Companies based in Geneva