Hedge Fund Team Joins FX Concepts

NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com)–FX Concepts Inc. hired former hedge fund managers Pierre-Yves Guillo and Yvan Bedouet to run a quantitative non-directional volatility and correlation arbitrage strategy within several FX Concepts hedge funds.

The move comes after Messrs. Guillo and Bedouet recently closed their own hedge fund, QTS Asset Management, New York, earlier this year and refunded capital to investors. Philip Simotas, head of investment management at FX Concepts, said his firm eventually convinced the two men to bring their highly quantitative program to FX Concepts.

In their new roles, the two men will run a strategy similar to the one they used at QTS Asset Management, Mr. Simotas said. They will apply that strategy initially to about US$50 million in assets within four FX Concepts hedge funds. Primarily, Messrs. Guillo and Bedouet will apply their program to the FX Concepts Developed Markets Currency Fund; the Multi-Strategy Fund; and the Global Financial Markets Fund and its similarly named, low-volatility sibling.

If all goes well, Messrs. Guillo and Bedouet could find themselves co-managing not only more assets from those funds but a separate quantitative non-directional strategy.

“Initially we will introduce some of their successful hedge fund strategies and give them a small piece of capital from existing funds,” Mr. Simotas said. “We’ll see over time if there’s demand for a group of these strategies, and if there is maybe launch a separate fund with non-directional strategies.”

FX Concepts plans to begin allocating some of its US$1.3 billion in hedge fund assets to the non-directional strategies within the next month, Mr. Simotas said.