A top energy trader is leaving the $6.5 billion hedge fund Freestone Grove just two years after helping launch the firm, two people familiar with the matter told Business Insider.
Michael Pope’s departure from the firm means Freestone will no longer have a stand-alone energy investing team. A person close to the manager told Business Insider that Freestone did not see the same money-making opportunity in energy and natural resources companies as it did in other sectors.
Pope’s analysts will work for other teams at the firm, this person said.
Pope has been the manager’s natural resources sector head since the fund’s launch in early 2024, closing his own fund, Wellfield Capital, to join Freestone founder Todd Barker. Pope previously worked for Barker at Citadel.
Freestone declined to comment. Pope did not respond to requests for comment. His profile on the firm’s website was recently removed.
The firm has recently expanded its investment head count to bolster its focus on other sectors, according to a person familiar, including:
- Micah Nance is set to join later this year as Freestone’s technology, media, and telecoms sector head, the person close to the firm said. Nance is a former Citadel partner.
- Tsz Hin Kwok, a former lawyer who has worked as an analyst at Citadel for the past 7 years, will be the firm’s first event-driven PM when he joins later this year.
- Jared Franken, a former managing director at Interval Partners, joined the firm earlier this year as a portfolio manager focused on industrials.
- The firm also promoted analysts Daniel Goldberg and Charlie Witmer to portfolio managers. The pair trade consumer and healthcare stocks, respectively.
The firm’s $3.5 billion launch was somewhat overshadowed by Jain Global’s $5.3 billion debut in 2024. However, Freestone has steadily grown its asset base and its investment head count to 105 people over the past two years, while Jain decided to return external capital to manage money exclusively for Millennium. Business Insider reported that Freestone was also open to new capital from select investors.
The fund was up 8.5% in 2025 but lost money in the first quarter of 2026. A person close to the firm said Freestone recovered its losses in the second quarter, with the fund up roughly 1% through the first half of the year.
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