(Bloomberg) -- Another Millennium Management portfolio manager specializing in merger arbitrage is leaving after a money-losing bet for the firm, according to people familiar with the matter.
Laurent Pujade, a London-based senior portfolio manager specializing in trading corporate events including mergers, is set to depart after a court decision halted Tapestry Inc.’s planned $8.5 billion acquisition of Capri Holdings Ltd., the people said. That ruling sent Capri’s shares plunging about 50%, blowing up arbs’ wagers that the two handbag makers would complete their merger.
Read: Tapestry Fashion Deal in Limbo as Capri Plunges, Arbs Take Hit
London-based senior portfolio manager Ed Cooper is also set to depart, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is private. Cooper’s portfolio was hurt by a selloff after regulators didn’t approve China National Pharmaceutical Group Co.’s take-private of China Traditional Chinese Medicine Holdings Co., Bloomberg News reported last week.
A representative for Millennium declined to comment. Pujade and Cooper didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Multi-manager, multi-strategy firms like Izzy Englander’s Millennium typically set tight limits on the losses that each investment pod can incur before their positions are cut. It’s not uncommon for portfolio managers to leave even before they hit that limit.
Arbs’ playbook — betting on whether and when proposed deals will succeed — has become more complex over the past few years amid subdued deal activity, higher interest rates and an increasingly muscular regulatory regime under Democratic President Joe Biden.
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