Tuesday, 6th January 2009

 

Lombard Odier hires more for fund

Aziz Nahas, chief investment officer of Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch’s 1798 Global Partners hedge fund division, has hired four of his former colleagues from Dillon Read Capital Management.

Dillon Read was shut by UBS in May last year following problems in fixed income. Nahas and his colleagues worked in equities, where performance was considered satisfactory.

The former Dillon Read hires include manager Oleg Rakov, who will run a US financial services hedge fund at 1798. It is majority owned by Lombard Odier, one of Switzerland’s largest private banks.

Other former Dillon Read signings include Lewis Katz, 1798 head trader, Damian Dwan, chief operating officer and Don Kucera, who will look after the division’s technology requirements.

Nahas has also hired Martin Fisch, formerly head of Deutsche Bank’s equity-linked capital markets team and Gary Lehrman, who worked on JP Morgan Chase’s proprietary trading desk. Other recruits have experience in managing hedge funds. A further 30 hires could be made.

Clients of Lombard Odier have committed $350m (€228m) to the various strategies on offer at 1798. They are expected to attract $1bn over time.

Elsewhere, Lombard Odier’s UK division has hired Charles O’Ferrall as chief operating officer. O’Ferrall used to be head of operations at Alta Advisers, the family office of billionaire Hans Rausing, who made his fortune in the packaging business.

O’Ferrall has also been involved in the creation of a series of family networks, including the European Family Office Alliance. Lombard has had a presence in London since 1973.

Sally Tennant is in charge of Lombard Odier’s initiative to build a private client business in the UK. Poor performance and defections led to the closure of its London-based institutional investment business in 2005.

Tags: Dillon Read Capital Management , Hedge Funds

Brummel

Headline

Mayfair goes Modern

Sebastian + Barquet, a three-year old design gallery based in New York and Chelsea, is opening a new gallery showing museum quality pieces in Mayfair next month, the first in London to focus on international modernism from the 1940s to the 1960s. Its opening exhibition is dedicated to American modernist design and is curated by celebrated architect Eric Parry.

Rich Monitor

Merrill’s Peter Kraus collects $25m and then resigns

Merrill Lynch’s John Thain may not be getting a bonus this year, but the former Goldman Sachs Group executives he hired are getting a fortune.

2nd Floor, Stapleton House, 29-33 Scrutton Street, London, EC2A 4HU

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7309 7788

Company No 3089347