Hedge fund Balyasny keeps raiding this Danish energy trading firm

Hedge fund Balyasny has been building out a European gas trading business since December 2023, and as it does so it likes to hire from a particular energy trading firm in Denmark. 

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In the past two years, Balyasny has hired over 20 people who previously worked for Centrica Energy, the energy trading and transmission arm of Centrica plc, based in Aalborg in Denmark. 

They include - most recently - Ezio Lauro, Centrica's former head of quantitative forward trading. 

Balyasny declined to comment on Lauro's arrival. However, he is far from the fund's only ex-Centrica hire. Thomas Bang, Centrica's former head of trading and new markets, joined Balyasny as a portfolio manager in 2024 and seems to have been facilitating the movement of his former colleagues ever since. Other key recruits include Anders B. Ghoul, a senior gas strategist and Magne Harrild, a gas trader. 

Several of Balyasny's hires have worked for both Centrica and for its rival Danish trading firm Norlys Energy Trading. The COO of its Danish business, Jorgen Aasted, previously worked for both firms, so this too is likely no coincidence.

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