NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com)–BlueMountain Capital Management’s latest hires come as part of the firm’s efforts to build a presence in Europe and to add investment capacity to its US$2.6 billion credit derivatives investment platform.
The firm hired portfolio managers, an associate portfolio manager, a strategist and a researcher in its New York and newly opened London office in the last month.
BlueMountain is a registered investment adviser that now employs more than 50 people and offers a relative value hedge fund, BlueMountain Credit Alternatives Fund. That fund was launched in November 2003 and takes long and short bets in global credit markets by using credit default swaps and other credit derivatives.
“We’ve seen a surge in liquidity in the European markets over the past year and feel that the time is right to establish a foothold in Europe,” said Andrew Feldstein, BlueMountain president, in a statement.
Due to that perceived market growth, Jeremy Barnum was hired as a portfolio manager and head of BlueMountain’s London office. He joins the firm from JP Morgan, where he was co-head of North American credit trading and previously ran the firm’s North American Credit Derivative Trading operation from 2001 to 2004.
Also, in the London office is Paul Griffith, who was hired as a senior credit researcher covering autos and industrials. He previously was head of European Credit Research at Goldman Sachs.