Old Lane Partners Rises!
Kind of! Remember Old Lane? That hedge fund Citigroup had to buy to get its hands on CEO of the Century Vikram Pandit? If you missed out on the chance to invest in it during its all-too-short two years of managing money, don’t despair. Another chance is on the horizon. Sutesh Sharma, the guy who co-founded OLP with Pandit is getting the band back together, minus Uncle Vik, who will be missed, and starting a new fund this fall.
Sutesh Sharma, the former head of proprietary trading at Citigroup is to launch his new London-based hedge fund, Portman Square Capital, with around $500m this autumn...The former Citigroup trading star was also the former head of proprietary trading at Morgan Stanley and is a close acquaintance of Citigroup chief executive Vikram Pandit, with whom he founded Old Lane Partners, one of the biggest hedge fund launches, in 2005. Old Lane was acquired by Citi in 2008 – a deal which propelled Mr Pandit to the top of the bank. Mr Sharma will be joined at Portman Square by a team of traders from Citi, many of whom he has worked with for several years. Although Citi will not be investing in the new venture, the team has left the bank on amicable terms. Those joining Mr Sharma include former Old Lane portfolio managers Lalit Das and Yusaf Khan, who will be partners in the new venture.
