MJX Asset Management, an $8 billion manager of credit strategies, has hired John Driscoll and Maggie Gresio of BlueCrest Capital Management to market its first hedge fund, a credit vehicle the firm plans to launch in June.
MJX has been running the MJX High-Yield Strategies fund internally for about a year and is now opening to outside investors. The firm began planning the launch two years ago, when it hired the fund’s portfolio manager, Hal Holappa, and chief operating officer, Phil Chiaramonte.
Holappa and Chiaramonte had, until 2004, worked at TD Securities in Toronto in the firm’s structured credit division, where Holappa was the global chief and Chiaramonte ran its North American desk. They joined MJX in December 2008 to manage the hedge fund, which invests across the credit spectrum, including leveraged loans, bank loans, asset-backed securities, mortgage-backed securities and other structured credit investments.
The credit fund has been back tested for about a year and will launch after MJX registers with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is likely to happen in June, said Driscoll. The firm hopes to raise as much as $2 billion for the hedge fund. MJX declined to comment on the incubated strategy’s performance.
The fund charges management and performance fees of 2% and 20% and requires a one-year lockup and a $1 million minimum investment.
Driscoll and Gresio will raise money for the new fund. They worked in investor relations and business development since 2008 in the New York office of London-based BlueCrest, reporting to Anne Popkin, head of North American and Australian business development. They were responsible for business development in the U.S., and Gresio also covered Asia and Australia.
From 1997 to 2007, Driscoll served as a trustee for the $23 billion New York City Police Pension Fund. Before joining BlueCrest, Gresio worked at Natixis Asset Management, where she helped develop a range of credit strategies for hedge funds and asset managers.
Popkin left BlueCrest in January and has not been replaced. She could not be reached for comment. BlueCrest has three other business development professionals in New York and is looking to rebuild its team there. The firm has hired a headhunter to conduct the search, according to marketers at other hedge funds who have been approached to fill the vacated positions.
BlueCrest managed $16.75 billion as of Jan. 1. The BlueCrest Capital International fund gained 45.41% in 2009 and was up 5.41% this year through March. Calls to BlueCrest were not returned.
—Anastasia Donde