{"id":34433,"date":"2025-07-17T04:52:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T04:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=34433"},"modified":"2025-07-17T04:52:03","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T04:52:03","slug":"the-next-millenniums-slow-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financialrush.com\/?p=34433","title":{"rendered":"The next Millennium\u2019s slow start"},"content":{"rendered":"

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One scoop to start: <\/strong>Diageo chief executive Debra Crew has quit with immediate effect<\/a>, confirming an earlier report by the FT that she was to be replaced. The Guinness and Johnnie Walker owner is struggling with falling alcohol sales and waning investor confidence.<\/p>\n

And another thing: <\/strong>Canada\u2019s Alimentation Couche-Tard has withdrawn its record-breaking $46bn proposal to acquire Japan\u2019s Seven & i Holdings, bringing an end<\/a> to its year-long campaign to pull the 7-Eleven owner to the negotiating table on friendly terms.<\/p>\n

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Welcome to Due Diligence, your briefing on dealmaking, private equity and corporate finance. This article is an on-site version of the newsletter. Premium subscribers can sign up here<\/a> to get the newsletter delivered every Tuesday to Friday. Standard subscribers can upgrade to Premium here<\/a>, or explore<\/a> all FT newsletters. Get in touch with us anytime: Due.Diligence@ft.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In today\u2019s newsletter:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The (near) impossible task of starting a multi-strat fund<\/h2>\n

In the world of hedge funds, Bobby Jain<\/strong> is near royalty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jain first made his name as one of the best-connected bankers at Credit Suisse<\/strong>, and most recently worked as the co-chief investment officer of Millennium Management<\/strong> besides Izzy Englander<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So when Jain set out to launch a new multi-strategy hedge fund last year, he was well placed to succeed.<\/p>\n

Even at a tough time for fundraising, Jain Global<\/strong> was able to pull in $5.3bn in the biggest hedge fund launch since 2018 (though well short of an initial target of $8bn-$10bn).<\/p>\n

One year on though, Jain\u2019s results<\/a> show just how hard it is to launch a rival to hedge fund giants such as Millennium and Citadel<\/strong>, DD\u2019s Amelia Pollard and the FT\u2019s Costas Mourselas report.<\/p>\n

The fund has gained just 2.7 per cent in the past 12 months. That puts it behind the dominant duo of Citadel and Millennium on 9.3 per cent and 9.9 per cent, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But since the start of the year, it\u2019s done better, raking in as much as Citadel with 2.2 per cent and falling just slightly behind Millennium.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jain gave himself an uphill climb by launching with seven strategies on day one.<\/p>\n

Multi-manager platforms are extremely expensive businesses to run: you need cutting-edge infrastructure to support trading and risk controls, plus there\u2019s intense competition for talent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Even when Jain found the right portfolio managers, they were sometimes locked up in two-year non-compete agreements, keeping them on the sidelines for the firm\u2019s first months of trading.<\/p>\n

Drawing and investing all of its $5bn also took a year, which burned a hole in Jain\u2019s pocket.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It bore the costs of a $5bn firm, without having invested all of its capital. \u201cYou have all the drag without the performance benefits,\u201d said one person close to the firm\u2019s strategy.<\/p>\n

Investors don\u2019t seem concerned. \u201cThe first year for us was about setting the firm up for the future,\u201d said one.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But ultimately, returns are everything in hedge fund land, and the investor added that those figures would soon matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real race is starting for them now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Citigroup\u2019s rising investment banking ambitions<\/h2>\n

Citigroup<\/strong>\u2019s new head of banking, Viswas Raghavan<\/strong>, in recent months celebrated the first anniversary in his new role.<\/p>\n

Part of the belated festivities appears to have included snapping up his former colleagues<\/a> from his previous employer JPMorgan<\/strong>, now that restrictions on his ability to recruit from his old shop have lapsed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Raghavan, who had previously run investment banking at JPMorgan, has now hired at least five senior bankers from there, including two senior equity capital markets bankers announced this week.<\/p>\n

In an internal memo publicised on Wednesday, Citi said it had hired the two bankers responsible for JPMorgan\u2019s international equity capital markets business.<\/p>\n

Aloke Gupte<\/strong> will become global co-head of ECM in London, while Alex Watkins<\/strong> will lead technology financing from San Francisco.<\/p>\n

The pair join Drago Rajkovic<\/strong>, who jumped ship to co-head M&A at Citi, and Sidharth Punshi<\/strong>, who now leads Citi\u2019s financial sponsors and alternative assets group across Emea.<\/p>\n

Those hires followed Achintya Mangla<\/strong>, a 22-year JPMorgan veteran who joined Citi in a newly established role as head of financing for investment banking.<\/p>\n

DD\u2019s main question is if Raghavan has been wining and dining his prospective hires in his New York penthouse<\/a> \u2014 a property once rented by Bad Bunny<\/strong>, according to the New York Post.<\/p>\n

The hires haven\u2019t all been one-way traffic: JPMorgan recently recruited senior private equity bankers Anthony Diamandakis<\/strong> and Theodoros Giatrakos <\/strong>from Citi.<\/p>\n

Raghavan has also looked outside JPMorgan to beef up the ranks, with Citi having hired James Manson-Bahr<\/strong> from Morgan Stanley<\/strong> and Ed Sankey<\/strong> from HSBC<\/strong>, who are both joining its equity capital markets team in senior roles in London.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

There have been some early signs of success. Citi\u2019s investment banking fees rose 13 per cent year on year in the second quarter, with the bank advising on high-profile deals, such as Nippon Steel<\/strong>\u2019s $15bn acquisition of US Steel<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Yet, Raghavan still has a daunting task if he wants to snag more business from the dominant investment banks.<\/p>\n

Second-quarter earnings this week showed JPMorgan had earned $2.5bn in investment banking fees, more than double Citi\u2019s figure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The five stages of Wall Street\u2019s Zohran grief<\/h2>\n

First came denial. Then came anger. That was followed by backroom bargaining<\/a> as masters of the universe plunged into the depths of despondency and searched for \u201canyone but Mamdani\u201d for New York mayor.<\/p>\n

Now some Wall Street titans are \u2014 dare we say it \u2014 learning to live<\/a> with the reality that the man Jamie Dimon <\/strong>labelled a \u201cMarxist\u201d stands a pretty good chance of becoming the next mayor.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s after Democratic party nominee Zohran Mamdani <\/strong>faced his Wall Street critics on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The 33-year-old was quizzed by a crowd of about 100 business executives on his fiscal policies and his views on the Israel-Palestine conflict, for which he\u2019s been accused of antisemitism.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe meeting was a net positive,\u201d said one top finance executive in the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe listened, he was genuinely wanting to engage and ultimately gave most people present a sense that he cares about New York and wants to be the mayor of all New Yorkers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mamdani\u2019s defeat of former New York governor Andrew Cuomo<\/strong> in the Democratic primary shocked<\/a> the party establishment. On Wall Street, Mamdani\u2019s proposals on tax and welfare went down like a ton of bricks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The candidate\u2019s plans include city-run grocery stores, freezes on rents as well as increases to the corporate tax rate<\/a>. He also wants to increase the city income tax on those who earn $1mn or more by two percentage points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Financiers critical of Mamdani said he fell short of reassuring them about his intentions at the meeting, but admitted that he came across as a likeable candidate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I or any of my friends want him to win? The answer is no. Emphatically no. But I think there is some room to work with him,\u201d said another top Wall Street financier. \u201cI don\u2019t think we have another option.\u201d<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s not get ahead of ourselves. Mamdani\u2019s geniality is unlikely to sway the bulk of New York\u2019s corporate elite.<\/p>\n

Many still view him as a danger, and for now, it seems they\u2019re playing a waiting game to see if a plausible challenger emerges.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody is watching the movie for a bit to see how things develop and then go from there,\u201d said one New York banker.<\/p>\n

Job moves<\/h2>\n