Liberty Ermitage, one of Europe's largest offshore fund management groups, has appointed Stephen Smith as VP of investor relations and communications.

Commenting on the appointment, which is designed to further strengthen the company's position within the financial community, Liberty Ermitage's CEO Ian Cadby said: "Steve comes from a marketing consultancy background and his experience working for leading multinational groups like WPP and BBDO will help us further strengthen our investor interface."

Cadby added: "Steve is just one of several new, major hires the company intends to put in place this year across investments, risk and sales/marketing, in response to excellent growth in assets under management. We are budgeted to expand our key personnel from the current 60-strong team based in London, Jersey, Luxembourg and New York - to 79 by year end."

Background notes: Liberty Ermitage Group (LEG) has USD 3.95 billion in assets under management with USD 1.8 billion in Hedge Funds, USD 1.4billion in traditional equity and bond funds and USD 750 million in money funds.

LEG is a leading edge asset management business whose highly disciplined approach encompasses rigorous analysis at the macro and strategy levels.  This top down approach is complemented by bottom up manager evaluation with emphasis on extensive qualitative and forensic analysis. LEG tracks over 4,000 hedge funds with an investment team of 17 including four former hedge fund managers / traders, and boasts one of the largest and most experienced research engines in the hedge fund industry.