Ex-Citadel partner's new $1bn London hedge fund got off to a flying start
Agave Capital Management, the macro hedge fund of ex-Citadel PM and partner Gilberto Marcheggiano, was one of the bigger launches in 2025. Bloomberg reported that the London-based fund launched in July with $1bn (£736m) in assets under management (AUM). Last week, it filed accounts with the UK's Companies House that suggest its early months went very well.
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'Agave Capital Management Limited' just released accounts from November 2024 (pre-launch) to the end of 2025. Agave is paying people handsomely. It employed 20 people on average during the period covered by the accounts and paid an average of £291.8k ($397k) in 'salaries and wages' for the 13 months. Many of its employees joined in May, or later, so the annual pay rate is likely to be much higher than this.
Marcheggiano has been hiring some old colleagues. Before Citadel, he was head of cross macro investments at Goldman Sachs. In March 2026, he hired Giancarlo Ferrero, another former Goldman fixed income PM with whom he also worked at Citadel. In February, Marcheggiano hired Benjamin Nelson, a senior economist and ex-Balyasny director, with whom he worked at the Bank of England early in his career.
Over the 13 month period covered by the accounts, Agave recorded a turnover of £21m ($28.5m) all in the form of 'investment management fees.' Agave's accounts state that this is a mix of both monthly management fees and performance fees that are recognized when returns crystallize.
Agave did not respond to a request for comment. The accounts show that the fund was owed £14.3m in 'prepayments and accrued income' at the end of the year, though this isn't broken down between management fees and performance fees. If we assume a substantial portion of this (£10m or more) reflects crystallized gains, that might suggest mid-single digit returns for investors on an AUM of $1bn.
Some of the biggest fund launches in recent memory, including Jain Global and ExodusPoint, posted returns of less than 1% in their first half-year of operations.
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