Zedd Capital has launched to provide absolute return investment management services for retail investors and professional clients.

The first offering is a managed account for retail and institutional investors, using a hedge fund style strategy of long-short investing in European equities, starting on 1 November.

Laven Partners, the consulting firm, and Laven Legal Service, the boutique law firm focused on the alternative investment industry, advised Zedd Capital in its set up and obtaining FSA authorisation for its business.

The founder and chief executive of London-based Zedd Capital is David Staton. He previously managed long-short investment portfolios with Merrill Lynch, Citigroup’s Tribeca Global Management and London hedge fund CQS, following nine years in trading and investment banking with Goldman Sachs in New York and London.

Staton says: "Through Zedd Capital, retail and institutional investors can access a genuine hedge fund investment strategy. Our long-short investment strategy has the potential to provide attractive returns over the medium to long term, regardless of how stock markets move in the meantime. By setting the minimum investment at GBP50,000, we are bringing hedge-fund style investing to a wider audience.”

Jérôme de Lavenère Lussan, chief executive of the Laven group, says: "After the credit crisis and frauds such as Madoff, investors are looking for more transparency and liquidity. Nonetheless to make up for their losses, investors really need access to alternative strategies. Zedd Capital is offering the best of both worlds; transparency and a regulated business with absolute return investment strategies, creating an attractive investment opportunity. Laven was delighted to advise on the launch of Zedd Capital and this unique project.”