Hermes, manager of the UK's BT Pension Scheme, has appointed Matteo Dante Perruccio as chief executive of its new boutique fund of hedge funds business, which the investment manager will co-own with the unit's staff.

Perruccio was most recently co-chief executive of Paris-based fund of hedge funds manager Olympia Capital Management and previously a senior executive at Pioneer Investments, in both organisations with responsibility for business strategy as well as building assets.

Hermes has made various other appointments to build the new fund of hedge funds business including co-chief investment officers Mark Barker and Greg Knott, who have worked together for the past 19 years, first at Momentum Asset Management, one of the first fund of hedge funds managers, and then at Pioneer Alternative Investments after the group acquired Momentum. Seven other individuals have agreed to join Hermes to provide quantitative, qualitative and operational analysis as well as product specialist activities.

This group will form the foundation of a boutique partnership, with Hermes owning the majority share and its partners and employees having a stake in the performance, profitability and enterprise value of the business.

The requirements of the BT Pension Scheme, which currently has some GBP1.9bn allocated to hedge funds, representing around 5 per cent of scheme assets, will initially be the main focus of the fund of hedge funds team.

Hermes had GBP35.5bn under management at the end of June and is wholly owned by the BT Pension Scheme, the UK's largest, but it invests assets on behalf of 206 clients including pension funds, insurance companies, government entities and financial institutions as well as charities and endowments.