Hunter Shively, global co-head of commodities business at UBS for the past seven months, is resigning to join a start-up hedge fund that is raising money to trade energy futures, according to Bloomberg.

Mr Shively will stay on for two months to oversee the handover of the commodities unit's North American energy operations. Todd Morakis, who was named commodities co-head with

Mr Shively in November, will run the Stamford, Connecticut-based unit.

UBS said in January it will reduce trading in power and natural gas in

Canada, and pull out of some European energy markets. Mr Shively plans to join Sasco Energy Partners, a Connecticut-based firm that is looking to raise $750 million, according to a person familiar with the matter who declined to be identified.

Sasco, which expects to start trading next month, was formed by Todd Esse, who previously co-founded Sempra Energy Trading, a unit of San Diego-based Sempra Energy. Mr Esse and  Mr Shively declined to comment.

Mr Shively has worked at UBS since 2004 and previously at Enron Corp, where he built the firm's natural-gas trading.