Maybe Jain Global's portfolio managers are incredibly talented

Hedge fund Jain Global has had a few changes of plan. Initially, it was maybe going to launch with $8-10bn. Actually, it raised $5.3bn. Initially, it was going to be a standalone new multistrategy hedge fund with its own set of investors. Actually, it's in the process of returning money to investors by the end of this month and will thereafter run money entirely for Millennium. 

💥Follow us on WhatsApp for news alerts.💥

What Jain Global has been consistent about, is its desire to hire really very good portfolio managers. Speaking earlier this year, Bobby Jain, who founded Jain Global, said his modus operandi was to hire a mix of steady performers and "35-year-old-killers" and to take 'good people and make them great.' 

Seven months later, Bloomberg says Jain Global has 400 employees in total and 65 portfolio managers. Maybe these portfolio managers are very great indeed, because Bloomberg also said that the gross returns on "called capital" (capital actually invested and received by Jain Global) were 41% since the fund's debut in July 2024. 

This sounds impressive, and also like every investor might like to shower some money upon Jain Global in light of Bobby Jain's talent-spotting abilities. 

However, gross returns are not net returns. Gross returns don't include costs like technology, offices, or paying Jain Global's talented portfolio managers themselves. When these costs are included, Jain Global's net returns withered to 8.4% over the same period, comprised of 0.5% in 2024 (from July onwards), of 3.7% last year and of 4% so far in 2026.

Costs therefore might be an issue. Jain Global declined to comment for this article. One insider with knowledge of other funds said costs elsewhere are typically around 10% of assets under management. 

Not all of Jain Global's assets were initially called up to be managed. Bloomberg reported in January that Jain Global began 2025 with only $2bn deployed. It said that Jain Global ended last year with $5bn invested. The total $5.3bn was only fully invested 20 months after launch (ie. around March 2026).

The delay in calling up Jain's capital seems to be down to a delay in finding enough great portfolio managers. Bloomberg said yesterday that it took a long time for Jain to "recruit trading talent." 

While trading talent proved elusive, Jain Global had front-loaded its costs. Speaking in February, Bobby Jain said front-loaded costs were part of the plan. "One of the things my dad said is 'take the pain upfront,'" he declared. "It's not chicken and egg, it's 'just chicken'," he added. "You have to build it all off your own balance sheet and then the money comes in....I was prepared for all that." 

Taking the pain upfront meant that while Jain's talented portfolio managers generated $750m in trading profits last year, Bloomberg reported that investors only received $190m of that after fees and expenses. The money was supposed to flow through to investors in time. "You're going to see the operating leverage start kicking in," Jain also said seven months ago. 

The operating leverage will hopefully start kicking in for Millennium. In the meantime, Bloomberg reports that Jain Global is still hiring and is pitching itself to very talented PMs as "a trading firm where portfolio managers collaborate with one another, whereas Millennium provides more independence and autonomy." Jon Stead, the ex-head of high yield trading at Morgan Stanley, appears to be in agreement with this and is joining Jain Global soon.

Given the $1.8bn of gross trading profits generated since launch, Jain Global's current total of 65 portfolio managers has generated an average of $28m each in profits over the past two years or so. However, not all of them were employed from inception and so actual profits per PM are likely to be far higher. If Bobby Jain ever retires from running Jain Global, he could probably work in business development instead.

Follow me on X. Follow me on LinkedIn. 

Have a confidential story, tip, or comment you’d like to share? Contact: +44 7537 182250 (SMS, Whatsapp or voicemail). Telegram: @SarahButcher. Signal: sarahbutcher.22  Click here to fill in our anonymous form, or email editortips@efinancialcareers.com. 

Bear with us if you leave a comment at the bottom of this article: comments are moderated intermittently by human beings. Sometimes these humans might be asleep, or away from their desks, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You must take sole responsibility for comments you post on this site. We will take reasonable steps to weed out anything that we consider to be offensive or inappropriate.