The chairman of hedge fund GLG Partners has dismissed the impending departure of a second high-profile trader in a year as "much ado about nothing" and was quick to quash similarities with Greg Coffey, the firm’s star emerging markets manager, whose exit in 2008 cost his team the “lion’s share” of its assets.

Announcing the company's second quarter results yesterday, Noam Gottesman said news that Robert Donald plans to leave GLG's European long/short fund to join rival manager George Soros was "part of business, and we are hiring many more people than we have had depart".