AQR Capital Management – the quantitative hedge fund group run by former Goldman trader Cliff Asness – has been forced to shelve plans for an IPO.
According to the New York Post, AQR saw several large investors pull money from the firm’s flagship $38bn fund after it posted poor figures for October. The AQR Absolute Return fund dropped 3 per cent in the last month, down 6 per cent on the year.
Other AQR funds suffered earlier in the first stage of the credit crunch – one, Black Mesa, fell 7.5 per cent in the first week of August alone, and took the decision to rapidly delever.
AQR was at the centre of rumours earlier this week that a number of quants were having difficulty as debt market conditions worsened through October.