Castle Hall Alternatives opens Halifax office and hires managing director

Montreal-based Castle Hall Alternatives, a provider of hedge fund operational due diligence, has appointed Gillian Scott as a managing director to head the firm's new office in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Castle Hall is joining various fund administrators and other service providers as part of a growing pool of hedge fund expertise.

Scott was previously group financial controller of the Atlantic Philanthropies, an international charitable organisation with an investment portfolio exceeding USD4bn, where she contributed to the design and development of the group's operational due diligence process, completing due diligence reviews for a significant portion of Atlantic's portfolio. She was also responsible for Atlantic's group audit and internal control environment.

Before joining Atlantic in 2001, Scott was an audit manager with the Bermuda office of PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she was responsible for a wide range of hedge fund and investment-related audits.

"In the current markets, hedge fund investors face multiple challenges that, more than ever, involve operational risk," Scott says. "Investors must understand many new issues, including counterparty risks, the impact of FAS 157, and how to deal with funds that impose gates, suspend redemptions or restructure. Castle Hall helps investors enhance their due diligence programme and better respond to these new challenges."

Castle Hall president and chief executive Chris Addy says: "We are delighted to welcome Gillian to our firm and expand our presence to Nova Scotia. Castle Hall's due diligence model enables us to provide the objective and fully independent advice that investors need to navigate today's markets. We have assembled what is now the industry's largest and most experienced team dedicated solely to operational due diligence on behalf of the investor community."

Castle Hall Alternatives helps investors identify hedge fund managers that not only deliver attractive performance but match operational best practices, using a proprietary methodology to prepare a detailed operational assessment for each fund under review.