Marc Desmidt, chief executive of Point72’s international business, said: “We are making a push to find, attract, and retain the industry’s brightest talent around the world, and we see Singapore as an important source of that talent.”

Point72 opened its existing Singapore office in 2009 with six employees. Today, it has 27 employees in the Asian city-state, including nine who joined in 2016.  The firm has been in Asia since establishing its Hong Kong office in 2006. The current head of the Singapore office, and the firm’s head of risk, is Chris Coward.

The firm has more than 1,000 employees worldwide including more than 140 people in the Asia-Pacific region. It oversees the assets of prominent hedge fund figure Steven Cohen. It mainly invests in discretionary long/short equities. Its long/short investment divisions are Point72 Asset Management and EverPoint Asset Management. It is headquartered in the US.

Cohen’s old firm, SAC Capital Advisors, no longer takes in external client money as part of a deal with US regulators concerning shortcomings at SAC. It is running down legacy client business, while the money of Cohen’s family is held in Point72. The very existence of Point72 is also an example of how a number of hedge fund businesses have, for different reasons, converted into family offices over recent years, including the business of George Soros.