Renaissance Technologies, one of the world’s most successful and secretive hedge fund groups, is to wind down a $1bn investment fund after its…

Renaissance Technologies, one of the world’s most successful and secretive hedge fund groups, is to wind down a $1bn investment fund after its underwhelming performance failed to attract enough outside investors

The hedge fund manager, founded by former Pentagon codebreaker and mathematician James Simons, is mostly known for its phenomenally successful flagship fund Medallion, which is now closed to outside investors

But Renaissance Technologies has also set up a handful of other funds that remain open to investors, including a so-called “managed futures” fund called Renaissance Institutional Futures Funds that uses algorithms to invest in financial derivatives across the world, taking advantage of market trends

The fund has about $1bn of assets, and has returned 1.75 per cent this year and 2.86 per cent annualised since its establishment in September 2007, according to a person close to the situation. But that is less than the almost 4 per cent average for managed futures funds and well below the industry’s best-known vehicles

However, RIFF was ended primarily because many investors preferred the Renaissance Institutional Alpha Funds, which was set up in 2012 and invested in futures and cash equities. Most of the capital in RIFF is now internal Renaissance money, according to a person familiar with the matter, so the decision was made to close the fund altogether

“We kept RIFF open for any investors who wanted, or had a mandate, to invest in a futures-only fund. Unfortunately, there are not enough such investors to justify the standalone futures fund,” Renaissance Technologies said in a letter to its investors. A spokesman for the hedge fund manager declined to comment