London-based fund of hedge funds group Culross Global Management, which has some USD450m in assets under management, has announced the appointment of Hitesh Bharkhda as chief operating officer.

According to Culross, the appointment reflects the continuing growth of its business and particularly performance gains last year of more than 37 per cent in its flagship Culross Global Fund in 2007 and more than 44 per cent in its more concentrated Culross Global H Fund.

Bharkhda takes responsibility for a series of core functions at Culross including compliance, IT and settlement, and he chairs the risk management committee. He was previously head of product development for alternative investments at Pioneer Alternative Investments, having been senior vice-president for finance and business development at Financial Risk Management. He earlier spent over four years at Threadneedle Asset Management.

Culross Global Management was founded by Nigel Blanshard in 1992 and pursues thematic fund of hedge fund management. The firm launched the Culross Global Fund in 2000, the Culross Global Arbitrage Fund the following year and the Culross Global H Fund in 2005.