Avoca Capital buys Liontrust's credit hedge funds

Avoca Capital has announced that it has bought Liontrust’s London-based credit hedge fund business. Liontrust has agreed to sell Avoca the contract to manage two long-short credit hedge funds totalling $100 million, and the team that runs them will also join Avoca.

The business is essentially the Ilex Asset Management business that Liontrust acquired in 2009. Ilex was set up by Simon Thorp in 2000, and Thorp is joining Avoca along with senior portfolio manager and long-time associate James Sclater. Three other team members, senior analysts Paul Owens, Quentin Peacock and operations manager Gareth Roblin, are also moving to Avoca’s London office.

The acquisition, understood to be for £3.2 million ($5.2 million), marks the first move into long-short credit by Avoca. The Dublin-based firm currently manages mainly CLOs, although according to its website it also manages credit opportunity funds and separate accounts.