Ex-Deutsche Banker Launches EM Fund

Miami-based investment and advisory firm Noctua Partners is launching August 1 the EM-focused Alto Global Fund, co-managed by former Deutsche Bank Argentina head Luis Caputo. The vehicle will start at $50m and grow to $250m in 18 months, Caputo’s co-manager, Martin Guyot, tells LatinFinance. Initial funding is coming from family, friends and the fund managers themselves, Guyot says. He adds that the market correction has uncovered investment opportunities, noting also that 2008 prices were too high. Guyot, who was at Cargill’s EM group during the 1990s and then joined Stark Investments as head of the EM group, says the new vehicle will invest 50% in instruments across asset classes in LatAm, another 30%-40% to EM and allocate the balance to global markets for hedging purposes. The manager says he expects the return on investment to be 20%, and that redemptions will be allowed on a quarterly basis. The fund says it will employ a combined top-down approach with fundamental bottom-up analysis. Its team of 8 professionals will be located in Argentina and the US, with a presence in Brazil and Uruguay. Caputo, a former JPMorgan debt trading chief, joined Deutsche in 1997 as global head of EM fixed income trading, moving to Argentina in 1999. He retired from the German shop last year to be replaced by Marcelo Blanco as chief country officer for Deutsche in Buenos Aires. LaCrosse Global Fund Services will provide administration services to the new fund.