Hedge Fund Walleye Capital Shuts Houston Office While Trader Exits

By Devika Krishna Kumar

July 31, 2024 at 1:48PM EDT

Buildings stand along the skyline of Houston during the 2019 CERAWeek by IHS Markit conference in Houston, Texas, U.S., on Friday, March 15, 2019. The program provides comprehensive insight into the global and regional energy future by addressing key issues from markets and geopolitics to technology, project costs, energy and the environment, finance, operational excellence and cyber risks. Photographer: Aaron M. Sprecher/Bloomberg (Aaron M. Sprecher/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Hedge fund Walleye Capital is closing its Houston office, and at least one energy trader is leaving the firm, people familiar with the matter said.

Jim Rowe, previously with oil major Chevron Corp., is departing the company, the people said. Walleye continues to trade in fundamental and discretionary commodities, one of the people said.

Walleye declined to comment. Rowe was not immediately available to comment.

Earlier this year, the firm eliminated about a dozen employees, pulled back from the discretionary macro business and instead sought to grow its better-performing systematic business, Bloomberg reported.

Walleye hired Eiman Alian in 2022 as global head of commodities as the firm made its first foray into the sector. But Alian left shortly afterward, and Raj Sethi, who oversaw commodities afterward, has also exited.

Walleye began as a proprietary options market making operation and is now a global multi-strategy investment firm headquartered in New York. The firm has about $4.6 billion in assets under management as of the end of July, one of the people said.

--With assistance from Nishant Kumar.