Fairtree Capital, an African investment manager that manages alternative and long only investment portfolios, has recently launched a new division, Fairtree Protea.

Fairtree Protea forms part of Fairtree Capital’s expansion of its Wild Fig and Woodland multi-strategy hedge fund solutions.

Jean Pierre Verster, who was previously with 36ONE Asset Management, will be the lead equity portfolio manager, managing a South African directional long/short equity hedge strategy as well as select global equity strategies.

Kobus Nel, CEO of Fairtree Capital, said: “We are very excited and honored to have an exceptional individual in Jean Pierre partnering with Fairtree Capital. Not only does Jean Pierre have an outstanding track record, he is also an excellent cultural fit with our existing Fairtree Capital team sharing our pursuance of excellence and growth whilst ensuring utmost integrity in every decision we make.”

“We believe that Fairtree Protea will significantly expand the capacity and quality within our suite of multi-strategy and equity investment offerings and enable us to provide a range of world class investment solutions to our clients,” he said.

The partnership with Verster will enable Fairtree Capital to significantly increase its directional long/short equity hedge capacity within its multi-strategy hedge fund solutions and also offer clients a new standalone hedge fund product.

Furthermore, Verster will manage a global equity hedge strategy alongside Danie Pretorius’s current relative value-oriented Global Consumer Equity Hedge Fund.

This forms part of Fairtree Capital’s intent to expand its global equity investment capability, with a long-only product likely to be launched in the near future.

“Fairtree Capital has a history of empowering ambitious investment professionals, and I am excited to be partnering with them. Fairtree Protea fits perfectly alongside Fairtree Capital’s other investment solutions and allows me to focus on passionately pursuing investment excellence in a conducive environment, collaborating with the rest of the investment team. I couldn’t have asked for better partners on the longterm journey of growing clients’ wealth,” said Verster.

This new partnership follows on the back of the recent development that Will Ridge, the highly rated sell-side investment professional, previously of BofA Merrill Lynch, will be joining Fairtree Capital in June as an equity portfolio manager of a new market neutral equity hedge strategy.

Based in Cape Town, South Africa, Fairtree Capital is a multi-strategy alternative and long-only investment manager across multiple global asset classes for institutional clients and high net worth individuals.

Fairtree Capital’s solutions include a variety of equity, fixed income, credit, commodity, volatility arbitrage, balanced and multi-strategy solutions.

Fairtree Capital currently manages around R24bn ($1.63bn) on behalf of clients, with its largest single investor being the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund (Norfund), the largest state-owned fund in the world.

Bradley Anthony, CIO of Fairtree Capital, said: “The partnership with Jean Pierre further underlines our commitment to partner with the very best investment talent to ensure we continue delivering superior risk adjusted returns to our clients. We are planning to launch a number of exciting new investment solutions together, with detailed announcements to be made in due course. “