Two Sigma Shuts Down Real Estate Unit Fundraising and Lays Off Staff

Quant hedge fund Two Sigma Investments has halted fundraising for its real estate unit and is cutting staff tied to the division, according to a Bloomberg report published October 16. The move marks a retreat from a push the firm began to open its data-science-driven real estate operation to outside capital, an effort that had targeted the housing and industrial sectors.

The development is the latest sign of turbulence at Two Sigma, which manages roughly $80 billion and has faced significant internal disruption in recent years, including a bitter dispute between co-founders John Overdeck and David Siegel, a broad 10 percent firmwide staff cut following a strategic review by new co-CEOs, and a prior spin-out of its private equity impact-investing arm after that unit fell short of its fundraising target. The real estate unit's failure to sustain its capital-raising effort continues a pattern of contraction in Two Sigma's non-core businesses.