Even as the UK government is poised to pull the trigger on Article 50, new hedge funds, private equity firms and boutiques are launching in London. Here’s our pick of the new companies launched in the past three months, according to the Financial Conduct Authority register tracked by corporate finance boutique IMAS.
Asper Investment Management:
Asper Investment Management spun out of private equity firm Hg Capital in August last year and was given regulatory approval in December. It’s focused on investments in renewable energy, and so far has four employees, seconded across from Hg Capital. These include head of renewable energy Luigi Pettinicchio, Luis Quiroga, a director in renewables and Emma Tinker, also a director in renewable energy investments.
Avery Row Capital Partners:
Avery Row is an investment manager and advisory firm focused on the emerging markets, and was set up by former Deutsche Bank trader, Prandeep Patel. He was previously head of illiquids and head of Africa at the German bank, but left in August 2010 for a role at Duff & Phelps. Avery Row was given regulatory approval in December. Shailen Modi, a former partner and group COO at hedge fund Cube Capital, has also joined as a partner. The firm has also hired Joel Bensoor, a former emerging markets trader at Deutsche Bank, as an investment analyst.
Centric Advisors:
Centric Advisors is another example of a senior investment banker deciding that they’re better off working for themselves. In this case, Arnold Holle, a former managing director at Piper Jaffray who has also worked at Goldman Sachs and UBS, has decided to launch a boutique investment bank focused on the consumer goods and retail sectors. So far, it’s just Holle and Philipp Klaus, who previously worked as an analyst on the European consumer and retail investment banking team at Piper Jaffray.
Clermont Asset Management:
Clermont Asset Management is the new venture of Baris Bayazit, a former commodities trader at Barclays investment bank in London who has been running his own firm, BQRT, for the past 18 months. Bayazit has teamed up with co-founder Eytan Behmoaras, a former associate in J.P. Morgan’s emerging markets structured finance team who has been working as an investment consultant for the past eight years.
Kuvari Partners:
Vikram Kumar, the former manager of the $496m long-short focus fund at hedge fund TT International, has spun out the fund from his former employer and has been building his team for the new independent venture, Kuvari Partners. Andrew Baker, who was in charge of business development for the fund at TT, has joined as a partner, Pádraig Hayes, the former COO at Jabre Capital Partners in Geneva, has moved to London to take the same role at Kuvari. Alex Hugh, a senior investment analyst at TT International, also joined as a partner and Shyam Kumar, a manager on TT International’s long-short equity fund, has also joined and Andre Wynd, a former analyst at hedge fund MSK Capital Partners, has been hired as a trader.
Westbeck Capital Management:
Westbeck Capital Management is the hedge fund set up by ex-CQS Asset Management portfolio manager Will Smith, and Louis Le Mee, who worked for BlueGold Capital, back in February 2016, but it has only just received regulatory approval. So far, it’s been managing the money of its partners, but is expected to raise capital from outside investors later this year. Also on board is Jon Mellberg, the former head of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co, and Jari Habib, who joined as COO from now-defunct hedge fund, Abydos Capital Management.
Contact: pclarke@efinancialcareers.com
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