Overview
DESCO LP is a Delaware limited partnership and an investment adviser registered with and regulated by
the SEC under the Advisers Act. DESCO LP serves as the managing member or manager of, and/or the
investment adviser to, certain affiliated collective investment vehicles (collectively, the “Funds”), as well
as the managing member or manager of other entities in the D. E. Shaw group. As used in this brochure,
(a) the term “the Adviser” includes both DESCO LP and the relying advisers identified as such in
Schedule R to Part 1A of this Form ADV (each, a “Relying Adviser,” and collectively, the “Relying
Advisers”), and (b) the term “clients” refers to the Funds; in each case except where the context otherwise
requires.
The investor base of the Funds comprises institutions and other sophisticated investors, including high-
net-worth individuals. These investors must meet certain minimum financial requirements (e.g., an
institution generally must own and invest on a discretionary basis at least $25 million of certain
investments), among other requirements, to be eligible to participate in the Funds, which are structured
as private investment companies that are exempt from registration as investment companies under the
U.S. Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”). In addition,
one
Fund is operated as an “employees’ securities company” (as defined in Section 2(a)(13) of the Investment
Company Act) that invests in other Funds; the investor base of that Fund comprises certain qualified
employees of the Adviser or its affiliates.
The D. E. Shaw group was founded in 1988. DESCO LP was formed in 1992 and has been a registered
investment adviser since 1999. The D. E. Shaw group invests globally in both public and private markets
and uses a broad array of strategies, including systematic strategies based on quantitative and
computational techniques, discretionary strategies based primarily on human analysis, and hybrid
strategies that combine systematic and discretionary approaches to investing.
DESCO LP’s principal owner is Dr. David Elliot Shaw. Other entities and individuals hold minority stakes
in DESCO LP.
The Adviser bases its advice to clients on the investment objectives and restrictions (if any) set forth in
such clients’ applicable offering memoranda, organizational documents, investment management
agreements, and/or subscription agreements, as the case may be (each, a “Governing Document,” and
collectively, the “Governing Documents”).
The Adviser managed approximately $46,771,400,000 in investment and committed capital on a
discretionary basis as of January 1, 2024.