How multi-million pay packages killed a small London hedge fund

Eisler Capital's decision to close its flagship multi-strategy hedge fund as soaring staff costs eroded trading profit exposes the difficulty London-based funds face when trying to grow rapidly and replicate bigger, entrenched US players, investors and industry insiders say. They warn that flows in the $4 trillion hedge fund sector will increasingly be absorbed by incumbents - likely leaving an industry that runs on public pension and retirement money concentrated in the hands of a few big firms with an outsized impact on financial markets. Eisler said last week that it would shut just four years after it pivoted to try and emulate the kind of business model used by the most renowned US headquartered multi-strategy hedge funds such as...