A former senior manager at Merrill Lynch and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein plans to launch a hedge fund. George Handjinicolaou was a managing director and global head of emerging market debt at Merrill and head of global markets for North America at DrKW in New York.
Handjinicolaou, who left Merrill in November, expects the fund, dubbed Etolian after the 200 B.C. name for the Mid-West region of Greece, to raise USD400-500 million in its first year. "I am still doing my homework, but when I have something I believe in, I will be an unstoppable force," the derivatives veteran said.
The hedge fund will invest predominately in credits from investment-grade rated countries through a variety of credit instruments including derivatives. Handjinicolaou declined to elaborate on the fund's proposed strategies. However, he said the fund will not focus on emerging market debt as that is a niche product for which there is insufficient investor demand.
"To launch a hedge fund you have to identify the topic, research it and execute it," he said, adding, "I am still perfecting the research."
