Lombard Odier Investment Managers (‘Lombard Odier IM’) has expanded its alternatives range with the launch of the 1798 Event Convexity Strategy, as part of its initiative to offer structurally convex strategies that have asymmetric risk/return profiles. The launch, with over USD100 million of committed capital, follows the launch of the 1798 Credit Convexity Strategy in early November 2016.  

The 1798 Event Convexity Strategy, managed by Christophe Thomas, Portfolio Manager, focuses on building deeply asymmetric risk profiles around events using intra-capital structure dislocations. The investment approach enhances traditional fundamental event driven analysis with the convexity available from the combination of equities, credit and related financial derivatives. The strategy employs a methodical and disciplined investment process, which begins with unique screening and analysis systems to filter the universe of company events and dislocations, and results in a concentrated portfolio centered around trade construction.

Prior to joining Lombard Odier IM, Christophe Thomas was a Portfolio Manager and Founding Partner at Birch Grove Capital from 2012 to 2016. His 20 year career includes portfolio management of the special situations strategy at Luxor Capital Group, and US convertible/capital structure strategies at Marathon Asset Management.

Jean-Pascal Porcherot, Head of 1798 Platform at Lombard Odier IM, comments: “We’ve sought to offer differentiated strategies which embed convexity at the position level, where the emphasis is on structuring trades, rather than finding attractive valuations. Our new strategy leverages the team’s expertise in trading and analysing multiple asset classes to identify the frequent mispricing of events across the capital structure with the goal of optimising the risk/return profile of each position.”

Lombard Odier IM’s 1798 hedge fund platform was created in 2007 and offers equity long/short, event driven, macro, relative value, and alternative risk premia strategies.