London-based Insparo Asset Management, which was established in July last year by principals Mohammed Hanif and Francis Beddington and launched its inaugural USD125m Insparo Africa and Middle East Fund in May, has appointed Simone Kruys as chief operating officer.

Kruys, who was previously finance director at Asian investment management firm BDT Invest, has held various senior roles within the alternative investment, investment banking and accountancy industries.

Previously she was a real estate fund accountant for Cambridge Place Investment Management, where she was involved in the launch of the firm's pan-European real estate fund.

Earlier Kruys was active in hedge fund accounting at Bluebay Asset Management, where she was responsible for month-end reporting and calculation of weekly NAVs and other financial reporting for three of the firm's hedge funds, as well as working on the implementation of trading and investment accounting systems.

She has also been a financial analyst for alternative and quantitative investments at UBS O'Connor and a financial and management accountant for ABN Amro. She began her career in the audit unit at PricewaterhouseCoopers in 1998.

'Although Insparo is only recently established, we are unashamedly institutional in style,' Hanif says. 'Like the rest of the senior management team, Simone brings with her an excellent track record and a depth of experience that will serve Insparo and our investors well.

'We are delighted she has decided to apply her considerable talent to our vision of capturing investment opportunities in frontier markets. Simone's potent blend of hedge fund and big four accountancy experience can only enhance the way our firm operates and the level of service and reporting we aim to provide to our investors.'

Insparo has capital from seed investors including IPGL, a private holding company owned by Icap chief executive Michael Spencer, his wife and family trusts, clients of a US investment and financial consulting firm, and specialist emerging markets brokerage Exotix.