PDT Partners (Process Driven Trading Partners) is a hedge fund company, led by quantitative trader Peter Muller, that was founded in 1993 as part of Morgan Stanley's trading division and spun off as an independent business in 2012.[2][3] It has offices in New York City and London.[4]
History
PDT Partners started out as a proprietary trading division (called the Process Driven Trading Group) of multinational financial services corporation Morgan Stanley in 1993.[5][2] According to Bloomberg, PDT's investments have returned an estimated annual average of more than 20 percent through 2010.[5]
The spin-off began in 2012. In October 2012, it was announced that the Blackstone Group had put $500 million into PDT, but without seeking any equity in the hedge fund. Bloomberg.com considered this unusual and a testament to Muller's market power and ability.[3] In 2013, the spin-off was complete. In February 2013, it was announced that the fund had raised $2.3 billion in total and was beginning operations in London and Hong Kong in addition to New York City.[6]
Peter Muller, the CEO of PDT, who started PDT as Morgan Stanley's proprietary trading group, was described by Bloomberg.com as an "unlikely executive", a 47-year-old math wizard, and a person with diverse intellectual interests and hobbies.[5][7] In 2019, Forbes reported that Muller earned around $150 million in the previous year, making its list of the highest-earning hedge fund managers for 2018.[8]
