Gems Advisors in London has appointed as a director Stuart MacDonald, formerly director of alternative investments at Shore Capital and director of hedge funds at Henderson Global Investors.

Founded in 1987, the Gems group is one of the longest established multi-manager hedge fund companies, with nearly USD 4bn under management. With offices in London and five other locations, the group manages fund of hedge funds portfolios in Luxembourg and Cayman Islands-based vehicles.

Reflecting the multinational character as well as the multidisciplinary skills of Gems' 50 staff, the investor base is diversified by both investor type and geography, with strong demand from institutional and corporate investors.

'I chose Gems because it has one of the highest calibre teams in the business,' MacDonald says. 'The company combines strong intellectual capital with a compelling range of products, both existing and under development.'

Miguel Abadi, chief executive and co-founder of Gems, says: 'I am delighted that Stuart has chosen to join us at a time of continuing expansion. Investors continue to benefit from Gems' long experience and highly disciplined investment and risk management processes.'

Gems' main funds were largely unaffected by the recent market turmoil. After strong July performances, August showed a gain for the Gems Recovery portfolio of 1.48 per cent in USD terms (performance year to date is up 23.83 per cent), while the Gems low volatility and multi-strategy portfolios were down by 1 per cent and 1.5 per cent respectively, but are up for the year by 11.2 and 14.24 per cent.