Moore loses its first star since Coffey exit

Moore Capital Management, one of the world's most famous hedge funds, has suffered its first key London departure since the retirement of star financier Greg Coffey last year.

Soraya Chabarek, a respected marketing and relationship manager at the company, left her role last week, according to filings at Companies House.

The Anglo-Syrian, who is said to have a priceless book of Middle Eastern contacts, was an important part of Mr Coffey's London-based team, having followed him to Moore Capital from rival GLG Partners in 2008.

Ms Chabarek, who became a partner at Moore Capital's European arm last year, could not be reached for comment. The company declined to comment.

However, industry sources described her departure as "inevitable" due to her close working relationship with Mr Coffey, who wrong-footed the hedge-fund industry in October when he retired at the age of just 41.

Mr Coffey, an Australian known as the Wizard of Oz to his legion of admirers, made his name at GLG, where he turned down a $250m (£155m) "golden handcuffs" deal to stay with the company in 2008.

At the time, it was widely assumed that he was planning to set up his own hedge fund. Instead, a chance meeting with the hedge-fund legend, Louis Bacon, who founded Moore Capital in 1989, led to his appointment at the company. Mr Coffey was one of the industry's most colourful characters and has a personal fortune of about £450m.

He owns properties across the world including the Ardfin Estate in Scotland – 12,000 acres on the island of Jura that is said to be good for hunting red deer.

The impact of his departure from Moore Capital, as well as key members of his team like Ms Chabarek, will be closely watched over the next few months after his exit from GLG led to a notable drop in assets at the company as loyal clients followed him to his new place of work.

At Moore Capital, Mr Coffey ran the Moore Emerging Markets fund.

He is said to have generated annualised returns of 22 per cent a year since 2004, although his performance was said to have dipped towards the end of his time at the company.

Acoording to reports, Mr Coffey once oversaw a portfolio worth several billions of dollars at Moore, although investor outflows saw these funds diminish to just "a few hundred million".

Rumours also circulated that he had fallen out with Mr Bacon, who once described him as "one of the most impressive traders in the world".

According to those who are close to him, Mr Coffey now intends to spend more time with his wife Ania, who is a former financial analyst, and their children.