Hedge fund founder quits the company after JPMorgan’s acquisition

Henry Swieca, a founder of Highbridge Capital Management, told about his plans to leave the company after J.P. Morgan’s movement to purchase the rest part of Highbridge, the giant hedge-fund firm.

J.P. Morgan acquired a controlling stake in Highbridge in 2004 for roughly $1 billion. It will purchase remaining stake in July of the current year.

According to Highbridge, Swieca is planning to help with this transition after which he will "seek new opportunities in the finance industry." Co-founder of Highbridge, Glenn Dubin¸ will continue to take up a post of CEO of the company.

In 2004 Highbridge possessed roughly $7 billion in assets. Now the company has about $21 billion in hedge funds, mutual funds, etc. "When Glenn and I founded Highbridge 17 years ago, we wanted to build an alternative-investment-management business that would endure long after us," Swieca said. “I am proud to say that we've succeeded beyond our dreams."

Hedge funds are often dominated by one or two top investors, so when one of these people leaves investors sometimes get nervous and withdraw their money. However, the specificity of the company is so-called statistical arbitrage, which uses computers to track down price anomalies between related securities, in such a way relying less on individual managers, as noted head of Atlanta-based Alpha Capital Management LLC, Brad Alford. Alpha Capital Management LLC has invested in one of Highbridge's funds.