Global alternative investment management firm Capstone Investment Advisors (Capstone) has appointed Tom Leake to lead its Solutions Platform.

Capstone Investment Advisors, the global volatility and derivatives-focused hedge fund and alternative investment management firm, has hired ex-Goldman Sachs systematic trading strategies head Tom Leake to lead its Solutions platform in London.

Captone’s Solutions platform manages more than US3 billion of the firm’s overall USD9 billion assets, and creates derivatives-based investment strategies for Capstone’s clients.

As head of Solutions, Leake – who joins from Goldman Sachs where he was a partner in its markets division and global head of the systematic trading strategies business - will work alongside the portfolio management teams in designing bespoke strategies.

Before Goldman, he spent more than seven years at Deutsche Bank in a number of roles, including global head of equity derivatives distribution and global head of sales and structuring for equity derivatives. He also helped build Deutsche Bank’s alternative risk premia investment strategies. Earlier Leake, who has over 17 years’ industry experience, was at JPMorgan and co-founded a boutique asset management firm focused on smart beta index products.

Capstone founder and CEO Paul Britton said that as markets become increasingly volatile and asset classes more correlated, achieving diversification is becoming “markedly more difficult.” 

“Through our Solutions platform, we seek to engineer derivatives-based strategies to help institutions to achieve their desired investment outcomes,” Britton said.

Commenting on Leake’s appointment, Capstone Investment Advisors president Jonathan Sorrell said the move helps further strengthen the Solutions business and bolster its position in the derivatives space.

Capstone’s USD9 billion of assets is managed across a broad range of volatility-focused, derivatives-based strategies.