Citadel's head of Asia long short equity left, but the fund has growth plans
Change is afoot in Citadel's Asian equities business. Bloomberg reported yesterday that Sachin Kewalramani, the hedge fund's head of Asian fundamental equities, has disappeared. No reason was given for the exit and Citadel isn't commenting, but people familiar with the issue say Citadel parted ways with him. Kewalramani didn't respond to a request to elaborate, and it's not clear where he's going next.
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Despite Kewalramani's vanishing, Citadel is positive about growth in Asia. Drew Gillanders, the man in London who runs international equities for the fund reportedly has hiring plans. Bloomberg says Citadel plans to allocate more capital to the business in Asia and that Gillanders has been spending time recruiting in the region.
If you would like to join Gillanders, he said last year that he likes to hire people with "intense curiosity about markets and performance drivers," and that when he interviews he likes to understand how people react during draw-downs.
Citadel built three equities teams in Singapore last year. 2025's hires included Ran Wei from Sylebra Capital, who appeared to run a TMT team. It's also added juniors like Griffith Goh, a former Balyasny gaming analyst whose LinkedIn profile says he joined in December.
Kewalramani once worked for Balyasny too. He was the fund's head of Asia for ten years until he was poached by Citadel in March 2021. Balyasny's Asia business is run by Archana Parekh, who joined from Millennium in 2022. In 2024 she reportedly had her book trimmed in order to help Stephen Schurr, a senior equities PM at Balyasny with recruiting. Schurr left for Millennium last year. Balyasny might have space for Kewalramani to return.
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