Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking has announced that David Escoffier has been appointed Global Head of the Hedge Fund Group. In addition to his new responsibilities, Escoffier will retain his current role as Head of Global Equities and Derivatives Solutions in London. He will report to Daniel Fields, previously Global Head of the Hedge Fund Group and currently Head of Flow and Listed Products. Escoffier began his equity derivatives career 14 years ago at Credit Lyonnais in Paris, before moving to London to create Credit Lyonnais' UK sales desk. He then moved to New York in 1997 to head Credit Lyonnais' sales effort in the region and then joined SG Cowen in New York, a former subsidiary of the Société Générale Group, as Head of Distribution for the Americas. In 2003, he was named Head of Equity Derivatives in London, a position he held until February 2007 when he was appointed Head of Global Equities and Derivatives Solutions in London, reporting to Christophe Mianné, Global Head of Equity Derivatives Solutions. Marc El Asmar will replace Escoffier in the Global Equities and Derivatives Solutions division in London as Head of Structured Products Sales and Distribution for Northern Europe. El Asmar will report directly to Nicolas Miara-Godet, Head of Structured Products Sales for Europe. El Asmar began his equity derivatives career eight years ago at Société Générale in Paris in equity derivatives sales to the Middle East and North Africa. In March 2005, he was named Head of Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA), a position he held until moving to his current role. He is a graduate of Ecole Superieure d'Aeronautique et d'Aerospatiale.
Newton Investment Management Limited, a UK asset management subsidiary of The Bank of New York Mellon, has announced the appointment of Alex O'Reilly to its Global Equities team. In his new role O'Reilly will work principally alongside Alex Stanic, the leader of Newton's unconstrained global equity portfolios, using his extensive knowledge of global equities to provide support in the management of portfolios, while undertaking stock analysis. O'Reilly has eight years' investment experience and joins from Rio Tinto Pension Investments where he formed part of a three-man team running a £1 billion global pension fund. Prior to this, O'Reilly spent five years as an analyst and fund manager on the US Small Cap desk at F&C Management. He joined the industry in 1999 having graduated from Cambridge University. Commenting on the new appointment, Jeff Munroe, Chief Investment Officer at Newton, said: "Alex has a track record for managing funds using a disciplined and analytical investment process, which will complement Newton's team based approach. His understanding of the issues facing corporate pension schemes will also be an asset to us."
Calum Graham has joined Spencer House Capital Management LLP as Partner and Fund Manager, Asian equities. He comes from F&C Asset Management where he was Director & Portfolio Manager, Asia Pacific Equities and was responsible for around $1 billion of institutional and retail portfolios for a variety of Asia-Pacific mandates for UK and European clients. Prior to this Graham worked at Govett Investment Management where he was a Director of Emerging Markets. This will put him alongside his old colleagues, former F&C Asset Management equity specialists Christian Dangerfield and Kerry Goh, who manage Asian and Japanese equities for SHCM. Graham will co-manage the Southeast Asian focused, SHCM Malacca Fund with Dangerfield.
Cardano have announced the appointment of Bart Oldenkamp as Managing Director of its Dutch-based team. Oldenkamp will be responsible for Business Development and Consulting. This follows the recent appointment of Geert-Jan Troost, who joined Cardano from Citigroup, as Managing Director Sales and Marketing. Oldenkamp, who joins from ABN Amro Asset Management where he was Head of LDI and Structuring, brings with him valuable experience in asset management and derivatives as well as in academic research to Cardano.
Jeffrey L Gould has been named Managing Director and Global Head of Distribution for Citi Alternative Investments. In this new role, Gould will be responsible for overseeing all of the sales and distribution efforts for the institutional and high net worth clients. He joins CAI from Renaissance Technologies, where he served as President of Renaissance Institutional Management. Prior to joining Renaissance in 2005, Gould was with Putnam Investments for 17 years where he served in various senior level institutional and strategic relationship positions, including Managing Director and Head of Institutional Sales and Consultant Relations. Earlier in his career, he served as a Vice President of Institutional Sales for Citicorp Investment Management Group and Value Line Asset Management. Don Callahan commented that "Jeff's depth of experience and extensive knowledge of the institutional marketplace will be a tremendous asset to our business."
AEGON Asset Management has recruited leading European fund manager, Stuart Fraser. Fraser is recognised as one of the foremost European fund managers with over 20 years experience in this sector. He joins AEGON Asset Management from Standard Life Investments where he was Investment Director, European Equities and ran the European Equity Growth Fund. Prior to SLI, Fraser was at Britannia Investment Managers and Scottish Mutual. At AEGON Asset Management Fraser will be responsible for running the European Equity team. Chief Executive Director Andrew Fleming commented, 'I am delighted Stuart is joining us, his knowledge and experience of the European market will be a great asset to our team.'
HSBC Private Bank has appointed Patrick Tuohy as Global Head of Sales and Marketing of the Alternative Investment Group. Tuohy will have collective responsibilities for the sales efforts of both the HSBC Alternative Investments funds of hedge funds business and the Private Bank's hedge fund advisory business. He joined HSBC in 2004 as the Head of the HSBC Private Bank's Alternative Funds Group, based in Hong Kong, where he had overall responsibility for the hedge fund investment platform in Asia and contributed to rapid growth of the HSBC Private Bank's alternative investment assets under management. He has 27 years of industry experience and has been directly involved in the hedge fund business and managing client portfolios for more than a decade. Prior to joining HSBC Private Bank, Tuohy worked in Hong Kong with Momentum Asset Management, and was subsequently a key adviser of Asian manager selection in his role as Managing Director.Nigel Webber, CEO of HAIL, stated: "With more than a decade of hedge fund investment experience, including three successful years as the AIG's marketing head in Asia, Patrick is positioned to continue to promote the AIG and HAIL as the HSBC Group's centre of excellence for hedge fund research and capitalise on the growing global interest in alternative investments."
Gartmore has announced the appointment of Jamie Brooke as Fund Manager dedicated to the UK Smaller Companies team. Brooke, who joined the team in October 2007, will report to Gervais Williams, Head of UK Smaller Companies. Brooke has worked in the private equity industry for the past ten years, most recently at Quester, but also with 3i in the London buyout team where he worked on a number of successful leveraged transactions including MORI, Coutts and Safetynet. Prior to this he trained as a chartered accountant with Deloittes and worked within their strategic consulting division. Jamie will bring active private equity style techniques to the investment process which will support portfolio companies where Gartmore holds an influential stake. Williams, Head of UK Smaller Companies commented on the appointment, "Many quoted UK small-cap businesses are interested in using the best parts of private equity style techniques to develop their businesses, management teams and the operation of their boards. Jamie has strong credentials in this field; his appointment will bolster the team's dedicated resource which we believe will aid continued growth and success."
BlueBay Asset Management has announced the appointment of Simon Mullaly from Deutsche Bank, where he was in charge of London's distressed debt trading division. Mullaly will join BlueBay's distressed debt group as a senior portfolio manager. Gina Germano, Head of the group, said: "I am delighted that Simon is joining our team. We are one of the largest institutional managers of distressed debt in Europe; with over £3.5 billion currently under management in this area, we consider it a business of great importance and opportunity for the firm. Simon is a well regarded and highly experienced sector professional whose skills will be of considerable benefit to us as we develop the business further."
Omgeo, a provider of post-execution trade management services, announced recently that Tony Remedios has joined the company as an account executive focused on Canada. He is responsible for achieving regional revenue and growth targets and for executing against global sales initiatives as Omgeo continues to grow its client community in Canada.
Stenham, the alternative investment wealth management group, has appointed John Long as Institutional Business Development Manager. Prior to joining Stenham, Long worked for Investec Asset Management for six years where he established and developed relationships with institutions including life assurance companies and private wealth managers. More recently he was in charge of Investec's relationships with fund of hedge fund managers in the UK and Europe. Harry Wulfsohn, Head of Institutional Business Development commented: 'There is a growing awareness in the UK of the role of alternative investments in client portfolios as an important tool to help improve overall diversification and to reduce volatility. I am delighted to welcome John to the team as an important part of our growth strategy for the UK'. He added, 'Stenham now has strategic focus in the UK, Europe, Latin America and Southern Africa and in all these markets we are committed to our philosophy of wealth preservation and focusing as much on managing risk as delivering returns.'
PricewaterhouseCoopers has appointed Pars Purewal as the new head of its alternative investments practice, covering hedge funds, private equity and real estate. Purewal has been a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers since 1995 and will take up the role with immediate effect. He will be responsible for coordinating PricewaterhouseCoopers services in this growing sector and building on the market-leading position that PricewaterhouseCoopers has established. Purewal commented on his appointed: "It is an exciting and challenging time to be taking on this role and I, along with my excellent team, will help our clients address the challenges and navigate through the complexities of operating in this very dynamic and fast growing sector."
International Asset Management has appointed Alexander von Mühlen as Head of Client Relations and Products. Von Mühlen joins IAM from ABN AMRO Asset Management where he has been responsible for project managing the structuring and introduction of alternative products, including the IAM range of funds of hedge funds. During this time, he managed the project to integrate several of IAM's products onto the Luxembourg funds of hedge fund platform. He also secured Swiss registration for the ABN AMRO Alternative Investments SICAV product range. Morten Spenner, CEO commented: "We are all very pleased that Alexander has chosen to join IAM in this new senior position. We feel it reflects the importance that IAM places in providing a top level service to clients. Alexander's experience will be valuable as IAM responds to a growing, international demand in new markets for our expertise." Alexander von Mühlen added: "I am very excited by the opportunity to join the dynamic team at IAM. I look forward to my new position within a firm with a stellar reputation for excellent and timely communication to clients."
Polar Capital Holdings has announced that Gareth Powell and Daniel Mahony have joined in order to set up a Healthcare business unit and to launch the Polar Capital Healthcare Opportunities Fund. Powell joins Polar Capital from AXA Framlington, where he spent 8 years most recently as fund manager of the AXA Framlington Biotech Fund. Whilst at university, Powell worked at Yamanouchi, a leading Japanese Pharmaceutical company (later to become Astellas) funded by a grant from the Medical Research Council and at a variety of academic laboratories. He also worked as a research analyst for the lecturer of the MBA with Life Sciences at the Oxford Business School. Mahony PhD has 9 years experience as a sell-side analyst following the healthcare sector. He was recently senior healthcare analyst at Morgan Stanley, leading a team that covered European biotechnology, medical technology and healthcare service industries. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, he spent two years at ING Barings in New York and also worked as a research scientist for Schering Plough Corporation in California. Mark Kary, Chief Executive of Polar Capital, commented: "We are delighted to welcome Gareth Powell and Daniel Mahony who offer nearly two decades of experience in healthcare - from pharmaceuticals to biotech to services. Healthcare is currently one of the most exciting markets from an investment perspective and we are pleased to have two such experienced individuals to build our healthcare franchise."
Bear Stearns Asset Management has announced that Dr Vijay Chopra has joined the Active Country Equity team as a Managing Director. Chopra will be responsible for research and development of portfolio optimisation techniques to add to the Active Country Equity team's top-down approach to country allocation. Chopra joins BSAM from his own firm, VKC Investments, LLC, where for three years he developed and implemented a long/short equity strategy. Prior to VKC Investments, he was a Portfolio Manager at Jacobs Levy Equity Management Commenting on the hire, Dr. Leila Heckman, Senior Managing Director of BSAM said, "We are very pleased to have Dr. Chopra join our team of experienced research professionals and investment strategists."
BNP Paribas has confirmed the expansion of its Hedge Fund Relationship team with the appointments of Conrad Johnson as a Director in New York and Stephanie Wong as an Associate Director in Hong Kong. Johnson joins BNP Paribas from JP Morgan Securities in New York where he worked in Fixed Income prime brokerage. In his new role, Johnson will assist his team in optimising the firm's relationships across its various business lines with the world's leading hedge funds. Prior to joining BNP Paribas, Wong was with HSBC managing hedge fund relationships in Asia. Her career started with JP Morgan in the Structured Finance CDO/CLO group in 2000 and later moved to Hedge Fund Credit function with JPM in Singapore. Furthermore, Mark Walker has relocated to London from New York to further the global effort as Head of Hedge Fund Relationship Management for Europe. With over fifteen years' experience, Walker will spearhead the Hedge Fund Capital Markets Solutions Group. Commenting on Johnson's appointment, Talbot Stark said, "Hedge funds are a core client sector for BNP Paribas. Mark, Conrad and Stephanie will draw on our extensive footprint across Europe, the US and Asia.
