Liontrust has expanded the centralised dealing desk, with the addition of two permanent staff, after partner and head of dealing Richard Farquar decided to take time out for a charity project.
The asset manager – which has grown assets under management from £3.6 million (March 2014) to £4.5 million (June 2015) – has appointed Zac Lewis from Balyasny Asset Management and Matt Orchard from Liontrust’s operations unit.
Lewis has previously worked at Citi, OVS Capital and James Caird Asset Managmeent (previously Moore Credit Fund).
Orchard was the senior manager within the Operations unit at Liontrust and has previously worked at Pamplona Capital and Thames River Capital.
Prior to Farquar’s decision to take time for his Walking The Courses charity project, the business had already recognised the need to increase the size of the dealing desk with the number of fund management teams now standing at seven.
The company has been expanding its fund management teams since 2008, which has led to increased workload for the centralised dealing desk.
Head of dealing Farquar started his charity project to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer UK in March. It is a disease which claimed his father.
At the time of writing, he had already raised £124,737, according to the walkingthecourses.com website.
He is aiming to walk between all 60 horse racing courses in mainland Britain over a period of 60 months. The combined distance covered will be around 3,000 miles in total.
Matt Tonge, senior dealer at Liontrust, said the growth in the business’s assets under management could well see additional recruits to the business.