Ex-Citadel managers to launch own firm -- WSJ

BOSTON Oct 13 (Reuters) - A former top executive at hedge fund firm Citadel Investment Group is starting his own investment company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.

Ervin Shindell, who most recently oversaw the Citadel team that placed bets on securities of companies involved in mergers and acquisitions, is launching a firm called RoundKeep Capital Advisors, the newspaper reported, citing marketing documents.

Joseph Rotter, Robert Doherty and Robert Donath, who also worked at Citadel, are joining Shindell's firm.

Shindell, who was a member of Citadel's management committee, left the Chicago-based hedge fund firm in March 2008, the paper reported.

The news comes at a time when several prominent fund managers are starting their own investment companies, hoping to attract investors returning to riskier strategies such as hedge funds as the markets recover from last year's crisis.

But investors are also saying it will be tough for newcomers to break in because investors will be able to dictate conditions to managers in a way they were unable to do in the high-flying years before the bear market.

"For the first time as far as I can remember, investors have leverage again," said Brad Alford, founder of Alpha Capital Management, an advisory firm that invests in hedge funds.

Often when employees leave Citadel they are prohibited from starting a competing business for a number of months. (Reporting by Svea Herbst-Bayliss; editing by Andre Grenon)