(Bloomberg) -- Citadel has hired three money managers for its equities trading business Ashler Capital as the multi-strategy investment firm builds up its teams in a competitive market. 

James Thetford, who previously worked at Point72 Asset Management, and Spencer Schwartz, formerly at Samlyn Capital, joined the $59 billion hedge fund firm in June, according to a spokesman. Mack Ewing, who was at Sculptor Capital, will start at Citadel in October, he added.

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Multi-strategy hedge funds such as Citadel are on a hiring spree for top traders as investors allocate more money to firms investing widely across asset classes. Ashler, which now has 19 teams of traders, is one of four long/short stocks businesses within Citadel. 

Citadel Global Equities Fund was up 1% in June and ended the first half of the year with gains of 8.4%. The firm’s flagship Wellington multi-strategy fund also returned about 1% last month to take the gains for this year to 7.2%.

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