Steve Cohen's hedge fund is splitting its stock-picking arm - and access to the C-suite is a big reason why

"The two units will report to the same leadership, helmed by Schwefel, and "will share the same best-in-class resources and collegial culture," the memo, which went out to employees Monday, said. Where the two brands will differ will be where they sit in the office - a person close to the firm said they'll operate from different floors - and their relationships with Wall Street banks."

"As Business Insider previously covered, the growth of multistrategy funds like Point72 and its peers such as Millennium and Citadel has changed the relationship between investment bank counterparts and buy-side firms, in particular around corporate access. With a separate brand and commercial relationship with Wall Street, portfolio managers operating under different names will be able to gain more access to CEOs of companies they trade and research, as well as receive insights from bank analysts, despite still working for the same fund."

Point72 will break its fundamental stock-picking unit into two separate brands, Point72 Equities and Valist, starting January 2026. Valist will launch with about a dozen investing teams covering various sectors. Both brands will report to common leadership led by Harry Schwefel and will share resources and a collegial culture. The two groups will operate on different office floors and maintain different sell-side coverage and commercial relationships with Wall Street banks. The separate branding aims to increase portfolio managers' corporate access to CEOs and bank-analyst insights while remaining within the same fund structure. Peer firms use similar multi-brand equity structures.

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