Alpha Strategic, an investment company focused on acquiring minority interests in fund management businesses, has appointed Alistair McKay as chief executive with effect from 1 October 2012.

His appointment follows Nicola Meaden Grenham’s resignation in early July 2012, who remains on the Alpha board as a non-executive director.

McKay (pictured), a chartered accountant, developed his career in investment banking, specialising in mergers and acquisitions, capital raisings and IPOs in the financial services sector with a particular focus on the investment management industry. He held senior investment banking positions at Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley and most recently was a senior adviser to Asset Management Finance (AMF), a US private investment firm, with a broad portfolio of minority interests in alternative, traditional long-only and wealth management firms which collectively manage over USD80bn in assets under management. Alpha has a very similar business model to AMF, albeit with the added benefit of a public listing.

Colin Barrow, executive chairman of Alpha, says: “Alistair brings first class business management skills and significant experience in the asset management sector and is the ideal person to raise the investment pace at Alpha. His appointment builds on last year’s transaction with Northill which gave Alpha the platform and cash funding to execute larger transactions. Now we have the nucleus of a team that can both identify and execute value enhancing transactions and develop Alpha’s potential. Alistair is expected to recruit one or two key staff to support the anticipated transaction flow, but the strategy of the company remains to keep overheads low at all times, until deal flow warrants increasing it.”

McKay currently has no interest in the company’s shares, but he will benefit from a long term incentive plan which will include an interest in 500,000 ordinary shares and a programme of options, subject to conditions relating, inter alia, to future acquisitions by the company and with restrictions on sale.