HBK Capital Management

The firm wears its founder's initials: Harlan B. Korenvaes named it after himself, an unusually personal stamp for a fund that otherwise kept a low profile. He came out of Merrill Lynch, where he ran the convertible arbitrage desk, and that pedigree pulled in a first roster of backers more often seen on a film credit than a fund prospectus, David Geffen, Richard Rainwater, the Ziff family, and Vanderbilt heirs among the early limited partners.

Launched in Dallas in October 1991, HBK grew from convertible arbitrage into a global multi-strategy book spanning event-driven and relative-value equities, merger arbitrage, structured and European credit, and special-situation vehicles. Korenvaes stepped back from day-to-day leadership in 2003, leaving the multi-strategy platform he assembled to carry his initials forward.