- Greg Coffey is prepping one of the largest hedge fund launches of 2018, with $1 billion on day one, according to an investor familiar with the plans.
- His new firm, called Kirkoswald, will hard close at $2 billion, with offices in London and New York, the investor said.
- Coffey was once described as "the most impressive trader I've ever seen" by billionaire Louis Bacon.
Greg Coffey, a star trader who retired at 41, is prepping the launch of a new hedge fund, and it's shaping up to be one of the largest new funds of 2018.
Coffey's new fund, called Kirkoswald Capital Partners, is planning to launch within the next two months with $1 billion, according to an investor familiar with the plans. The fund aims to hard close at $2 billion, the investor said, meaning the fund will not accept capital after that threshold has been reached.
Coffey is expected to put a significant percentage of his net worth in the fund.
The fund, which will have offices in London and New York, will run a global macro strategy with an emerging markets focus.
Hires include Bob Price, previously global operations head at GLG Partners, as chief operating officer; Stuart Atkinson, previously of Moore Capital and GLG, who is heading risk; and James Saltissi, who will be head of execution.
Coffey had backed Saltissi's fund, Abbeville Partners, named after an area in London where Saltissi and Coffey used to live. Abbeville filed to change its name to Kirkoswald Capital Partners at UK Companies House on January 30, and with a UK regulator on January 31.
Coffey retired from the industry in 2012 at the age of 41, saying at the time that he intended to spend more time with family in his native Australia. He previously worked at GLG Partners and Moore Capital, where he ran two emerging markets funds.
The founder of Moore Capital, Louis Bacon, once described Coffey as "the most impressive trader I've ever seen", according to a Financial News report from 2012. He specialized in big macro bets, and earned the nickname the "Wizard of Oz." Still, his investment performance at Moore "failed to live up to the stellar returns he delivered at rival manager GLG Partners, where he built his reputation and earned himself hundreds of millions of dollars by outperforming both the markets and other hedge funds in the heady bull market of 2005 to 2007," the report said.
Other sizable launches this year include funds from billionaire Steve Cohen, ex-Millennium head Mike Gelband and former Viking Global chief investment officer Dan Sundheim.