Javelin Global Commodities builds coal trading desk

Other commodities moves at CF Partners, CME, DTCC and Vectra

London-based commodity merchant Javelin Global Commodities has begun building its coal desk

Javelin builds coal trading desk

Javelin Global Commodities, the London-based commodity merchant that launched in June this year, has begun building its coal desk with the hiring of two traders from Goldman Sachs.

Julien Reipert and Dirk Detering – formerly, vice-presidents of coal trading at Goldman – have both joined Javelin in similar roles.

Reipert traded physical and financial coal and freight at Goldman since 2008, having previously worked in the trading arm of French oil major Total. Detering joined Goldman from Baltimore-based utility Constellation Energy, and previously held marketing roles at Ohio-based American Electric Power and Melbourne-based mining giant BHP Billiton. In their new roles, Reipert will be based in London and Detering will be based in Switzerland.

Javelin was launched with a focus on coal and power and is backed by shareholders including Düsseldorf-based utility trader E.on Global Commodities and Ohio-based coal miner Murray Energy. It has a long-term export marketing and domestic advisory agreement in place with Murray and a long-term hedging and credit line with E.on.

The company is headed by London-based chief executive Peter Bradley, Goldman's former global head of bulk commodity trading. Spencer Sloan, another former Goldman executive, serves as London-based chief financial officer and chief investment officer.

A spokesperson for Javelin confirms the hires, but declined to comment further.

Vectra nabs Mitsui energy traders

Vectra Capital, the New York-based proprietary trading firm, has added two new hires in trading from Mitsui & Co Commodity Risk Management. Lloyd Bloom and Tom Holland have both joined the company from the Japanese oil and gas risk management firm.

Bloom was previously head of energy trading for North America at Mitsui & Co Commodity Risk Management, while Holland was an energy trader. They join a 10-strong commodity trading desk at Vectra and will report to managing director Michael Cosgrove.

Vectra, a physical and financial commodity trader with a focus on North American energy markets, was founded in 2013 by Cosgrove and two former colleagues from interdealer broker GFI Group, Robert Esposito and Joseph Verdi. Cosgrove previously served as a managing director at GFI.

Speaking to Risk.net, Cosgrove says Vectra is looking to add at least two more traders to the desk before the end of the year. He believes that restrictions on prop trading by banks under the US Dodd-Frank Act present an opportunity for the company to expand. "If it weren't for Dodd Frank, we would not have had the opportunity to bring in such talented people," says Cosgrove. "Banks have become less hospitable for good traders [and] we are always on the look-out for opportunities."

DTCC hires former CFTC commissioner

Mark Wetjen, a former commissioner at the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has been hired as a Washington, DC-based managing director at the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC).

In his new role, Wetjen will be responsible for the DTCC's global public policy function and legal activities. The new hire is part of a strategy to grow the company's role as a resource for market participants seeking to comply with new transparency and risk mitigation rules, the DTCC said in a statement.

It follows the announcement of Wetjen's resignation from the CFTC on August 28, after four years focused largely on implementing rules under the US Dodd-Frank Act. At the DTCC, Wetjen will join Michael Dunn, a former commissioner and acting chairman of the CFTC, who has served as non-executive chairman of the DTCC's US swap data repository since 2012.

CF Partners names oil trading MD

Philip Cuthbertson, the former global head of oil trading at Crédit Agricole, has been appointed as managing director responsible for oil trading at London-based commodity trader CF Partners.

Cuthbertson joins from Hartree Partners, the commodity merchant that previously formed part of New York-based oil producer Hess. He worked at Crédit Agricole between 2008 and 2012, having previously held oil trading roles with Deutsche Bank and Australian bank Macquarie.

In his new role at CF Partners, he reports to Jonathan Navon, a London-based partner and head of sales and trading. The hiring of Cuthbertson is one of several new appointments CF Partners plans to make to its oil trading desk in the near future, says a spokesperson.

CME hires energy products director

Chicago-based exchange CME Group has hired Adrian Callinan as director of energy products in London.

Callinan previously served as head of UK gas trading and origination at Noble Clean Fuels, a subsidiary of Noble Group, the Hong Kong-based commodity merchant. He joined Noble Clean Fuels in 2010 from New York-based hedge fund Millennium Capital Partners, where he was a managing director. Prior to his role at Millennium, he worked for Deutsche Bank as a director for European natural gas. Before that, he spent four years as a natural gas trader at EDF Trading, the trading arm of the French utility.

In his new role, Callinan reports to Henrik Hasselknippe, London-based senior director for energy products in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. A spokesperson for CME Group confirms the hire, but declined to comment further.

Koch gas trader joins Novatek

Russian natural gas producer Novatek has hired Steven McCarthy as a lead trader, based in Switzerland.

McCarthy joins from Koch Supply & Trading, the commodity trading arm of Kansas-based industrial giant Koch. There, he was a senior trader responsible for European cross-border gas trading, based in Geneva. He previously spent six years as head of commodities for Alpiq Trading, the trading unit of the Swiss utility, where he managed the firm's gas, coal and oil trading books. Earlier, McCarthy spent two years trading natural gas with Melbourne-based mining giant BHP Billiton.

Separately, Koch Supply & Trading has hired European power trader Michael Hamilton in Geneva. He joins from Switzerland-based commodity trading house Gunvor, where was responsible for proprietary trading in Italy, France and Germany. Hamilton joined Gunvor in 2009 from the trading arm of Dutch utility Essent.

Freepoint recruits oil traders

Connecticut-based commodity merchant Freepoint Commodities has expanded its team with a duo of oil and products traders.

They are Jeff Waldron, the former head of JP Morgan's oil derivatives desk, and Farzad Askari, who previously served as head of gasoline trading at Switzerland-based trading house Glencore.

Waldron is now a senior vice-president based at Freepoint's headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. Meanwhile, Askari has been hired as part of an effort to expand the firm's refined products trading book and will be based in its Houston office. The moves were first reported by Reuters.

It follows a number of other hires at Freepoint in the past year, including additions to its North American oil trading team and to its London-based energy trading desk.

Separately, energy trader Giandomenico Serra has left Freepoint to join interdealer broker GFI Group in London. Serra, who now works as a gas broker at GFI, joined Freepoint in September last year. He was previously a power trader at Italian utility A2A.