Auda International, a New York-based manager of hedge fund and private equity investments with some USD5bn under management, has appointed George Chacko as chief investment officer of its
Auda International, a New York-based manager of hedge fund and private equity investments with some USD5bn under management, has appointed George Chacko as chief investment officer of its Auda Hedge unit as part of the group’s strategy to align its hedge fund products with the requirements of its global client base.
Chacko joins Auda from Kite Partners, a manager of single-manager hedge funds and fund of hedge funds that he founded and where he was managing partner and chief investment officer. Kite Partners’ products will be integrated into Auda Hedge and continue to be managed by Chacko, and his colleague at the firm, Karl Neumar, will also join Auda as a vice-president.
He was previously a managing director in charge of pension asset management at Integrated Finance, having spent two years at State Street Bank as a managing director for fixed-income sales and trading. Between 1997 and 2006, Chacko was a professor in the finance department at Harvard Business School.
‘We have found that many sophisticated asset allocators are shifting their resources from multistrategy managers to advisors that offer specialised products and customised investment solutions,’ says Auda chief executive Ernest Boles, who joined Auda late last year from Citigroup, where he was chief investment officer of Citi Global Wealth Management Europe.
‘When I joined Auda [in late 2007], one of my primary objectives was to better align our investment products with the evolving needs of our clients. George Chacko brings to our firm a highly successful quantitative liquidity risk-driven investment approach which, when married with Auda’s qualitative research practice, will create the strong foundation we need to meet our clients’ investment objectives.
‘Combined with our private equity practice, which includes global primary, secondary and direct and co-investment capabilities, we believe Auda is positioned to deliver to our clients a range of solutions across the liquidity and risk/return spectrum. Our platform is well positioned to provide individual solutions as well as support the broader endowment-oriented model adopted by many sophisticated investors today.’
Chacko says: ‘Auda has a solid reputation and a strong long-term investment record. I look forward to working with both the hedge fund team and other colleagues across the business to meet the needs of our clients now and in the future. While I will continue to apply my quantitative methodology to the assets I managed at Kite Partners, they will now also benefit from the depth and breadth of Auda’s resources and qualitative expertise.’
Meanwhile, B. Scott Reid will take up the newly-created position of global head of investor relations for Auda International’s hedge fund and private equity businesses, with the title of managing director.
‘Outstanding client focus and service is of equal importance to the ability to consistently deliver the highest quality investment opportunities in parallel with strong performance,’ Boles says.
‘To provide differentiated investment solutions and services, we need not only an intimate understanding of the markets but the ability to listen to our clients to fully understand and respond to their investment objectives. Scott’s extensive experience makes him uniquely qualified to lead this effort.’
Auda International was established in 1989 to advise the family of German entrepreneur and industrialist Harald Quandt, whose members are among the owners of auto manufacturer BMW, on their private equity, hedge funds and real estate investments in US. Today the group’s affiliates Auda Private Equity and Auda Hedge are independent alternative investment advisors managing more than USD5bn in assets, and employing more than 80 professionals at offices in the US, Europe, Asia and the Caribbean.
