Goldman steps up hedge fund effort with two hires

Goldman Sachs has added two new portfolio managers and transferred another pair to its hedge fund strategies group - a unit the investment bank claimed has seen significant asset growth in recent months.

Terrence Jones will run event-driven and relative value sectors, which includes convertible, equity and fixed-income arbitrage as well as merger arbitrage, special situations, distressed debt and multi-strategy investing. He joins from Arden Asset Management, a $2 billion manager of hedge fund managers firm, where he was director of research. Previously Jones was head of research and manager selection for Morgan Stanley's Fiduciary Group, which managed about $22 billion.

Peter Ort joins Goldman from Smartleaf, a portfolio management software company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He will run merger arbitrage, special situations and distressed debt strategies, reporting to Jones, who runs a team of six. Both will be based in the US.

In Europe, Arne Hassel, formerly in charge of Goldman’s global currency group, has transferred to head the hedge fund strategies group's investment and business efforts outside of the US. He will cover multi-strategy managers and tactical views on sector weights. Nadja Pinnavaia joins Hassel as a strategy specialist focusing on the relative value and event-driven sectors within Europe.

"Portfolio management skills are paramount to our competitive advantage as the hedge fund industry continues to grow," said Roch Hillenbrand, co-head of the hedge fund strategies group.

Goldman bought New Jersey-based asset management firm Commodities Corporation – a hedge funds specialist - in 1997. The bank believes the growing hedge fund market requires an increased need for specialisation of staff across hedge fund sectors.