(March 11, 2014) — Steven Cohen’s SAC Capital Advisors has been renamed Point72 Asset Management, according to an internal employee memo obtained by The New York Times.
The hedge fund firm turned family office’s new name reflects the address of its headquarters in Connecticut and a fresh start following charges of insider trading.
“In the aftermath of our settlement with the government, Steve and senior management considered whether our path forward as a family office would be simpler if we operated with new legal entities and new names,” wrote President Thomas Conheeney in the memo. “It reminds us of a sense of continuity: our headquarters has been at 72 Cummings Point Road for more than a decade, and we anticipate it will be our home for many years to come. Perhaps more important, the name emphasizes we point to a successful future.”
According to the note, Point72’s two stock-trading units will operate as Point72 Asset Management and EverPoint Asset Management while its quantitative-trading business will be called Cubist Systematic Strategies.
Last November, Cohen’s firm agreed to a guilty plea with the New York district attorney and the Federal Bureau of Investigation of all counts of insider trading and securities fraud for four of its companies—SAC Capital LP, SAC Capital LLC, CR Intrinsic, and Sigma Capital. It also agreed to pay a record fine of $1.2 billion.
SAC’s insider trading was “substantial, pervasive, and on a scale without precedent in the history of hedge funds,” said Preet Bharara, the US attorney in Manhattan.
Eight of SAC’s employees have either pleaded guilty or have been convicted of insider trading since last summer. Although the US Securities and Exchange Commission has a pending administrative action against Cohen—and 10 years of investigation—it is said to be unlikely the billionaire investor will face criminal prosecution.
“We take responsibility for the handful of men who pleaded guilty and whose conduct gave rise to SAC’s liability,” the firm said in a statement in November. “The tiny fraction of wrongdoers does not represent the 3,000 honest men and women who have worked at the firm during the past 21 years. SAC has never encouraged, promoted, or tolerated insider trading.”
Since the plea, SAC has reduced its staff to 850 employees and announced it will not manage any outside money. The family office now handles $9 billion of Cohen’s personal money.
“We have been through a great deal during the past few years,” firm President Conheeney said. “Our new names, combined with the other changes we have announced, are intended to help us move forward.”
The new name will become official on April 7.
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