Key Takeaways
- • Oliver Briars, a money manager at Steve Cohen's Point72 Asset Management, is joining London-based hedge fund LMR Partners in December 2025 to trade consumer equities, marking a significant lateral move between two major multistrategy firms.
- • Briars brings prior experience from Citadel, establishing a track record across multiple tier-one hedge funds and strengthening LMR's competitive positioning in an intensely competitive talent market.
- • LMR Partners, which manages $12.4 billion in assets across its Multi Strategy, Alpha Rates, and Convertible and Capital Structure Arbitrage funds, continues aggressive equities expansion with eight dedicated trading teams and recent hires including former Goldman Sachs portfolio manager Ediz Karahasonoglu and ExodusPoint's Andy Hill as head of European equities trading.
- • The hiring reflects robust demand for equity traders in 2025, with equity strategies leading hedge fund performance gains year-to-date through September amid a lucrative stockpicking environment and heightened competition for specialized talent.
- • LMR's Multi Strategy fund has returned 7.6% year-to-date through September, positioning the firm competitively despite recent September losses tied to star trader Andrew Berger's departure from the mortgage trading team, which recorded a $100 million loss in September alone.
Summary
Oliver Briars, a money manager at Steve Cohen's multistrategy hedge fund Point72 Asset Management, is transitioning to London-based hedge fund LMR Partners, effective December 2025, to trade consumer equities. The move represents a significant personnel shift within the hedge fund industry and reflects intensifying competition for top trading talent as equity strategies deliver outsized returns in 2025.
Briars arrives with substantial credentials, having previously worked at billionaire Ken Griffin's Citadel before joining Point72. His recruitment to LMR signals the firm's commitment to expanding its equities operations at a time when equity strategies are outperforming other hedge fund strategies. LMR's multi-strategy fund has generated 7.6% returns year-to-date through September 2025, demonstrating competitive performance even as the firm navigates recent operational challenges.
LMR Partners, founded by former UBS traders Ben Levine and Stefan Renold, manages $12.4 billion across three primary vehicles: its Multi Strategy, Alpha Rates, and Convertible and Capital Structure Arbitrage funds. The firm operates approximately 60 trading teams covering equities, fixed income, credit, volatility, event-driven, and commodities strategies, with eight dedicated equities teams. Briars' hiring is part of a broader equities expansion initiative that includes recent recruits Andy Hill, who joined as head of European equities trading from ExodusPoint (where he spent seven years), and Ediz Karahasonoglu, a portfolio manager and former head of emerging markets equities trading at Goldman Sachs, hired in July 2025.
The timing of these hires reflects industry dynamics favoring stock-pickers in 2025. According to Bloomberg data, equity strategies have led hedge fund performance gains through September, creating a favorable environment for capital deployment and justifying aggressive recruitment by multistrategy firms seeking to capitalize on this momentum. However, LMR faced headwinds in September when star trader Andrew Berger departed, with his highly leveraged mortgage trading strategy unraveling and erasing approximately $100 million in year-to-date gains. This disruption underscores both the volatility inherent in certain specialized trading strategies and the critical importance of retaining and attracting top talent to maintain performance consistency.
Briars arrives with substantial credentials, having previously worked at billionaire Ken Griffin's Citadel before joining Point72. His recruitment to LMR signals the firm's commitment to expanding its equities operations at a time when equity strategies are outperforming other hedge fund strategies. LMR's multi-strategy fund has generated 7.6% returns year-to-date through September 2025, demonstrating competitive performance even as the firm navigates recent operational challenges.
LMR Partners, founded by former UBS traders Ben Levine and Stefan Renold, manages $12.4 billion across three primary vehicles: its Multi Strategy, Alpha Rates, and Convertible and Capital Structure Arbitrage funds. The firm operates approximately 60 trading teams covering equities, fixed income, credit, volatility, event-driven, and commodities strategies, with eight dedicated equities teams. Briars' hiring is part of a broader equities expansion initiative that includes recent recruits Andy Hill, who joined as head of European equities trading from ExodusPoint (where he spent seven years), and Ediz Karahasonoglu, a portfolio manager and former head of emerging markets equities trading at Goldman Sachs, hired in July 2025.
The timing of these hires reflects industry dynamics favoring stock-pickers in 2025. According to Bloomberg data, equity strategies have led hedge fund performance gains through September, creating a favorable environment for capital deployment and justifying aggressive recruitment by multistrategy firms seeking to capitalize on this momentum. However, LMR faced headwinds in September when star trader Andrew Berger departed, with his highly leveraged mortgage trading strategy unraveling and erasing approximately $100 million in year-to-date gains. This disruption underscores both the volatility inherent in certain specialized trading strategies and the critical importance of retaining and attracting top talent to maintain performance consistency.
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