A group of former relative value proprietary traders from Goldman Sachs have launched their own fund with USD150 million. The partners, who include Marko Lehtimaki and Alexis Bonnet, began setting up London-based Methodology Asset Management three years ago and have traded their own personal accounts in the interim to stay active in the market. An industry official said Lehtimaki and Bonnet took three years to get their fund to market because they wanted to build an infrastructure similar to Goldman's.
The fund, which has a capacity of a few billion dollars, was launched with capital from roughly 10 institutional investors and immediately closed to new investment. Methodology closed the fund because it wants to build risk slowly, the official noted. It follows a cross-market approach beyond a classical fixed-income arbitrage strategy. The fund invests in G-10 interest rates, volatility, foreign exchange, credit and emerging markets. Lehtimaki declined to comment.
