CedarKnight, an independently owned boutique asset management group, has been launched by Gilly Uppal and Kenyon Abel.
The firm’s mainstay will be high value niche investment strategies, historically deployed by proprietary structuring desks at leading banks.
With strong and varied backgrounds implementing investment banking solutions, structured finance transactions and hedge fund strategies, Uppal and Abel will manage funds, via the CedarKnight platform, for select institutional and family office investors from their head office in the heart of Mayfair, London.
Both founders considered that many fund managers they came across during their formative years were heavily reliant on single dimensional strategies and too passive in sourcing investments. This passive "end buyer" approach fails to maximise investor return. CedarKnight will operate more akin to bank proprietary desks in accessing better price arbitrage.
Uppal says: "The platform defines our thinking. To succeed with today’s sophisticated investor, added value is needed with an unconventional approach being key – becoming an integral counterparty to transactions to secure better pricing (as opposed to end buyer) and forming stronger alignment with investor demand on outperformance. The CedarKnight model is to generate and extract value along the various phases of an investment strategy. We intend to leverage our years of experience having worked at leading proprietary trading desks – adopting the design, structuring, sourcing, execution, monitoring expertise to manage investments."
Abel says: "Our primary focus is sourcing and managing market neutral single issuer investments. A large part will be sourced and structured bi-laterally with credit stable financial institutions, hedged in the market. These may take the form of over-the-counter strategies across the fixed income, equity, and asset finance markets. CedarKnight will also source and manage event driven single issuer strategies in European exchange traded markets over specific asset classes with a view to expanding to the US markets."
