Gluskin Sheff - Toronto HF
Hey everybody
I was researching for good hedge funds to work for in Toronto and I came across a post where several were mentioned. Does anybody know how well "Gluskin Sheff + Associates" fairs?
I have read a lot on the BB banks in TO but seldom come across any HF information. Any other great hedge funds to intern at in toronto would be appreciated. Thanks!
I can't tell you too much about GSA but I do read their daily newsletter "Breakfast with Dave". If you are interviewing there I would suggest you subscribe. It's free and has some really great insight into a variety of economic drivers.
breakfast with dave is so gloom and doom. it is an entertaining (and somewhat convincing) read though.
Gluskin Sheff is very legit as far as Canadian HFs go.
They are quite respected. I too read David Rosenberg's daily newsletter, which is great if you are into Zerohedge and/or keep up with economic indicators. I would suggest subscribing and reading it every day before the interview.
I can't make any firm specific comments, but as for Toronto HFs in general, top of the heap would be West Face, Polar, Sprott, etc. If you want a good list of Canadian hedge funds, here's a decent (although no exhaustive) resource: http://www.scmonline.com/analytics/reports/SCHFPI_monthly.pdf
The hedge fund space in Toronto is microscopic. There are a small handful that are worth mentioning...
Gluskin is a quasi-hedge fund. It's an asset manager that has some hedge fund strategies like long/short equity. Gluskin was arguably a lot closer to a pure hedge fund 5-10 years ago but it has grown a lot and become more institutionalized. Brad Dunkley recently broke off to start Waratah Advisors - wanted a more pure hedge fund experience. He's trying to turn his office into a place for other startup hedge funds to work...creating a hedge fund hive. Waratah will likely raise a good chunk of money and should do well as Dunkley is very well respected.
West Face is a good fund. They have over $1b and do a lot of special situations (activist, distressed, bridge lending, etc.) in addition to basic stock picking. Smart group of guys and very aggressive.
Polar is ok. It has been around a long time but I wouldn't say they are particularly impactful.
Mike Ruscetta has been running RCM for over a year now - doesn't have a tonne of assets but is growing. Smart guy.
Eric Sprott is clearly well respected and has a fantastic track record. He does mainly macro & greasy small cap investing.
Blair Franklin has a liquid credit fund that has done quite well.
What's ironic is that I've heard that Gluskin completely ignores Rosenberg when making picks. They are micro stock pickers and he is a promotional tool to gather assets.
100% True. They are a bottoms-up fund, that looks at fundamentals first and foremost. They look for catalysts most times.
That said I am sure they must read some of his macro views, Rosenberg has not been completely false either. Even in the commodity and bond space in Canada,
Breakfast with Daveis heavily read, not like gartman but I would say it is close to being in the top 3-5 things most traders read or skim in the AM.Good thread... I agree GSA isn't really a hedge fund (more of high net worth asset manager) and Rosenberg is there just for marketing - if you followed him you would realize that he's wrong most of the time.
But I disagree with the point of the industry being "microsopic" because there are quite a few other successful T.O. hedge funds worth mentioning - GMP, Dynamic, Fiera, Periscope, Rosseau, K2, Salida, Friedberg. However the industry is still about 1/1000 of what you would find in NYC.
haha going to have to disagree with you there... Rosenberg is arguably the smartest guy on the street... he doesn't bulshit like a lot of street economists do. hes been spot on with the deflationary trends and with expected growth for months now, way ahead of other economists. I don't think he is a doom-and-gloomist, he is just writing exactly what he thinks (and what usually does happen) and i dont see any reason why anyone would be bullish on the economy right now.
Fair point - I missed those in my list and definitely agree they are also worth mentioning.
Cool, thanks for the feedback gentlemen (or ladies). I wasn't expecting 10 replies haha.
Is the recruiting similar to America, where the typical employee has been working for several years in iBanking before joining the fund? I know GSA hires interns for example, so would you recommend working with them for most of the terms you can, so can get a full time offer or would it be better to do banking for a few years then apply for a position at HF?
Any other career advice or salary info would be nice lol
You goto the one school that GSA hires interns from. It is by far one of the most sought after jobs at that school. Most school fund PMs work for or have worked for GSA. Some of them didn't want to goto GSA right away, some did. Their last hire has only worked at GSA (did all his terms there). Lastly of all the funds and banks that recruit from your school, some years they hand out offers some years they don't, either way GSA on the resume is golden in Canada. As our all the other funds mentioned above.
When they do well, they pay well.
What schools do they hire from?
I only noticed Laurier was mentioned for interns on their website but that can't be the full story...
They are a hedge fund, they only need 1-2 interns at a time? Why go beyond 1 school?
I just called and asked. They hire through co-op and don't typically take students for the summer.
Gluskin is a Laurier shop. In general, Laurier students want to get into investment management (i.e. fidelity, GSA) or accounting. Ivey/Queens students shoot for banking/consulting.
Great topic...
Breaking into the HF scene in Toronto isn't impossible but it is tough because they hire very opportunistically. My view is that if you are dying to get into a HF, your best bet is probably NY or somewhere else where there are generally more HFs. If you are dying to be in Toronto, then you might want to think about some other areas like prop desks at the Canadian banks (not too many though) or working at CPPIB or OTPP as they've recently expanded into more non-traditional areas.
Also, another two names into the hat would be Catalyst and Brookfield. Catalyst is a smaller shop but runs a fair amount under management in distressed and Brookfield is a large manager with many different arms, but runs a distressed debt fund as well.
I think the other issue is that HFs in Toronto tend to be quite small, and don't have a lot of time to train up someone fresh out of undergrad so it would help having worked in Asset Management or at another HF already. Of course, I know of people who have moved over from banking in Toronto into HFs so it's not impossible.
Finally, you should think about what specifically you want to be doing versus the strategy of the fund. If you consider yourself to be a die-hard fundamental, bottoms-up guy, it will be tough fitting in with a bunch of momentum, technical traders.
GSA is great, as is Friedberg Global Macro. Different approach completely as Al Friedberg utilizes a top down methodology
Picton is one of the better funds in Canada.
Friedberg is currently a one man shop as far as his hedge fund business is concerned, as almost all his employees work on the futures and fx brokerage business. Al does nearly everything himself, though this wasn't the case in the past. The last thing you want to do is get into an argument with him about austrian economics or views on the market, but he's a really really smart guy with a highly commendable track record.
Their equity funds are great, I agree. They have a decent rep in credit but haven't posted the returns though.
GSA has hired one co-op student (that I can think of) from Dalhousie in the past.
I know 1 girl who went to Laurier, did 2/3 co-ops and got a FT offer. She was off the charts smart, and very very personable and social.
Basically sums up the last 3-4 people they have hired. They did lose their superstar PM to his own fund 2-3 years ago though.
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What's the reputation of Picton Mahoney in Toronto?
What's the reputation of Picton Mahoney in Toronto?
It's a good shop. Mostly equity strategies, has recently built out a couple high yield-focused credit funds that are doing okay, not great.
I can't figure out why you want to know, though, considering you've asked about everything from "how much DCM VPs get paid" to "what do floor traders do?"
Just curious really about the hf business in Canada.
What's the largest manager in Canada and how many multi billion funds would there be in Canada (I really don't have much knowledge of the industry in Canada).
Again, just out of interest.
I once saw the return of a hedge fund that had an acronym as a name (MMCP or something). Small fund here in Toronto. Best returns I have ever seen in my life, so good they looked fake. I wish I still had that sheet (part of a fund-of-funds pitch)
found it: http://mmcap.wordpress.com/performance/
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