If you’re looking for a route out of a large financial services organisation and into a boutique organisation, it’s best to keep your ear to the ground. Every month, hundreds of new financial services organisations are launched in the UK – many by former senior investment bankers and traders.
We’ve combed through the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK – tracked by corporate finance boutique IMAS – to find the most interesting firms launched in April, May and June.
1. Tramontana Asset Management:
What to do if you’re part of a shrinking UK investment bank working in a division where most banks are downsizing? The answer, it seems, is to go it alone.
So it is for a number of former Barclays commodities professionals. Bharath Manium, the former managing director in and head of commodities structuring for EMEA, and Paul Jackman, a managing director in its commodities index business, were two of many senior casualties as Barclays cut back its commodities unit last year.
Now, they’ve just launched Tramontana Asset Management, which says it provides investment solutions “ranging from alpha generation, to providing commodity linked financing”. They have also hired Hengzhi Zou, who was previously an associate director at UBS, as vice president.
2. Alvento Capital Partners:
The solo effort from veteran hedge fund portfolio manager Alvaro Ventosa – one of the founding partners at Cygnus Asset Management and a former adviser at CF Partners – Alvento Capital Partners received regulatory approval in June.
It has a number of CF Partners alumni working in senior roles including Carlo Sbraccia, Lance Peatling in compliance and Nicholas Frolich.
3. Apis Partners:
The latest venture of former managing director and global head of financial technology advisory at Deutsche Bank, Udayan Goyal, Apis Partners was launched last year but has only just been given the thumbs up by the FCA.
Apis is a private equity firm, focused on financial services in ‘growth markets’ and was launched with Matteo Stefanel, a former senior partner at Abraaj Capital in London and Dubai.
4. Caphaven Partners:
Caphaven is another example of a private equity firm that was launched in the middle of last year by former senior investment bankers, but has just been given the thumbs up by the regulator.
Alex Spain, a former managing director at BAML and Lehman Brothers, launched the firm together with Cornel Riklin. Rilkin has been a CEO of various companies run by PE firms. Rilkin and Spain are the founding partners.
5. Massena Investments
Still very much a boutique operation with just two employees, Massena Investments is the new venture of former HSBC fund manager, Faraz Sultan. He was formerly global head of portfolio management for the bank’s private banking unit responsible for picking money managers for wealthy clients.
Sultan departed along with three other senior HSBC employees – William Benjamin, head of alternative investment research; Clark Cheng, head of alternative investment research in the Americas and David Ritterband, head of alternative advisory and discretionary mandates – in November.
Massena Investments has one other employee – Anne Parthiot-Mons – a former managing director at Morgan Stanley and latterly business development and client director for Permal Group – as a partner and COO.
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