Marshall Wace’s foray into credit investing hasn’t started smoothly.
The $80 billion hedge fund’s first big hire to run the unit — former Citadel portfolio manager Dan Shatz — has resulted in a legal tussle with Ken Griffin’s firm. Its Alpha Plus fund, which the credit unit feeds into, has delivered an underwhelming performance, including a recent 3% loss in July that cut the nearly $4 billion strategy’s 2026 gains to 0.9%.
Read more A pain point in my Wall Street schedule inspired me to leave Citadel to found a laundry startup
Internally, things are just as tumultuous.
Four people familiar with the situation, including current Marshall Wace employees, told Business Insider that there have been at least five departures for the unit’s investment ranks. According to individuals who spoke with those who have left, these departures stemmed in part from a pod-shop-like culture that prioritizes individuality and can be quick to cut people — antithetical to the London-based manager’s long-standing priorities of collaboration and collegiality.
“When you compare the culture of the credit side to other parts of the business, it’s night and day,” one individual said.
Departures from the unit since New York-based Shatz took over in late 2024 include:
- Richard Wolstenhulme, the head of credit quant research, who is now a senior portfolio manager at Millennium
- Weijian Chuah, the head of systematic credit, who was poached by an unknown rival and is expected to start trading sometime next year
- Eric Irion, a fundamental credit portfolio manager who was recruited from Millennium
- Benjamin Chuchla, a fundamental senior credit analyst who is now a senior analyst at Balyasny
- Hannah Liu, a fundamental credit analyst
Additionally, Daniel Gish, a fundamental credit portfolio manager who was recruited from Verition, is set to depart later this year.
Marshall Wace declined to comment.
Behind the credit push
The manager started by Paul Marshall and Ian Wace nearly three decades ago has grown considerably since its $50 million launch with backers like billionaire George Soros.
That growth has pushed the firm — which now manages more than $80 billion in assets and has more than 700 employees — into asset classes beyond its bread-and-butter. The manager has a significant fundamental stock-picking presence, thanks to its massive Eureka fund, and is also revered for its quant strategies, highlighted by its pioneering alpha capture fund, TOPS.
Expanding into different asset classes with the Alpha Plus fund, which includes some equities exposure and macro strategies overseen by former D.E. Shaw investor Sean Dong, is a part of the firm’s push to diversify beyond its main funds. Shatz was the man the firm tapped to build its credit business.
The legal fight with Citadel almost immediately added an external distraction for the division. What started as an arbitration between Citadel and Shatz has drawn in Marshall Wace and generated plenty of headlines since it became public earlier this year. Citadel accused Shatz of “shamelessly violating” his employment agreement and stealing trade secrets, while Marshall Wace described the Miami-based fund as an “800-pound gorilla” that was “bullying” a former employee and rival firm.
Read more Michael Burry branded some dot-com winners ‘complete idiots.’ Dot-com winner Mark Cuban weighed in.
The most recent ruling in the case in June went against Marshall Wace; a New York judge sided with Citadel, which had subpoenaed documents related to Marshall Wace’s recruitment of Shatz. The judge’s ruling gives Griffin’s firm access to Marshall Wace’s internal documents.
In the midst of the legal fight, Marshall Wace’s US general counsel, Courtney Lewis, also left the firm, two people said. Lewis was one of 25 partners at the manager.
A focus on culture
Business Insider previously reported on the internal divide at Marshall Wace between the firm’s more collaborative old guard and its newer recruits who often hail from rivals used to an eat-what-you-kill structure. The credit unit is, in some ways, a microcosm of that dynamic.
Marshall Wace’s billionaire founders have prided themselves on building something more collaborative and less cutthroat than the typical hedge fund. Wace is intricately involved in the interior design — portraits of employees are a feature — and layout of the firm’s different offices around the world. Marshall said at a 2023 Hong Kong conference that the firm is “characterized by long-employment duration and a highly collegiate environment.”
Since credit was a new entity within the firm, hiring a whole swath of new employees from outside Marshall Wace’s walls, the unit’s culture would be influenced greatly by the division’s leader, regardless of the company’s overall environment.
The systematic credit team had been operating for years prior to Shatz’s arrival, feeding into some of the firm’s quant strategies, several people said. Shatz lobbied to have the unit come underneath him; since that change, a pair of quant credit leaders — Wolstenhulme and Chuah — have decamped from the manager.
Still, backers of the fund and industry observers say the firm’s push into credit investing is worthwhile, and Marshall Wace shows no sign of pulling back. Two people close to the unit say the firm is in the process of bringing in its first fundamental credit investing hires in London, for instance.
Read more Warren Buffett could wait forever. His successor may not be so patient.
About the Author
