Well-known fund manager Kimon Boyiatjis, who left Abvest Associates to form Trident Capital earlier this year, is well on track with his multi-strategy hedge fund and plans to launch a lower volatility absolute-return product earlier in the year.

The Trident Absolute Opportunities Fund launched in early May and has around R100 million under management.  It will soft-close at R300 million.  The fund complements Boyiatjis’ long only fixed-interest business, which already has about R3 billion under management.

The fund seeks capital appreciation through investing in a diverse portfolio of stocks, bonds and other securities in domestic and international markets.  While largely exposed to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange at present, the fund can include bond and derivative exposure.  It gained 0.1% in its first month and 0.8% in June.

Boyiatjis, previously head of fixed interest and alternative investments at Abvest Associates, opted to set up on his own after the company decided to move its managers to Johannesburg.

Boyiatjis spent 12 years as a prop trader in South Africa, London and a brief spell in Chicago before becoming a portfolio manager at Nedcorp in 1996 and later moving to Abvest.  He was part of the award winning fixed-interest team that left FTNIB in October 2001 to joing the newly formed Abvest.