Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s eponymous London-based hedge fund firm, Marshall Wace, shot to fame in 2002 with the introduction of its highly successful trade optimized portfolio system, or TOPS, strategies. It was so successful in capturing alpha that Marshall Wace launched MW TOPS, a closed-end investment company that invests in several European TOPS strategies managed by Marshall Wace, on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange in December 2005 to allow new investors to access the strategies directly. It raised $1.96 billion, nearly twice the $1 billion expectation, and now manages roughly $6 billion through January 2014. Many hedge funds around the globe have replicated the TOPS system, including New York-based Two Sigma and London-based Gartmore Investment Management...
