Millennium Trader With Plans to Spin Out Fund to Join Balyasny

(Bloomberg) — Millennium Management’s Antoine Iskandar, who had been in preliminary discussions with his employer over a potential spinout, is leaving the multistrategy firm for rival Balyasny Asset Management.

The Zug, Switzerland-based senior portfolio manager’s team at Millennium had lost money this year before he decided to leave for Dmitry Balyasny’s hedge fund firm, people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing private information. He managed more than $600 million for Izzy Englander’s firm, one of the people said.

While Iskandar’s pod had made money for Millennium during the past three years cumulatively, according to the person, the team’s equities, relative value and equity derivatives-focused strategy had seen tens of millions of dollars in losses in 2026, three people said.

Iskandar and representatives for Millennium and Balyasny declined to comment.

Iskandar is among a string of money managers benefiting from a fierce war for talent among the world’s biggest hedge funds. Even those that have seen losses are getting poached, as investment firms jostling for talent seek to put their capital to work. Such a move benefits traders by allowing them to start making money for themselves again, instead of focusing on recouping losses at their previous employer.

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