Coast Asset Management recruits institutional marketing chief for North America

Date: Friday, October 24, 2008
Author: Hedgeweek.com

Santa Monica-based Coast Asset Management, an independent multistrategy alternative investment manager, has appointed industry veteran Timothy Holmes as a managing director and head of institutional marketing and investor relations for North America.

Holmes from Nuveen Investments, where he held a senior business development and product management role within the taxable fixed-income group. At Coast, he will oversee institutional marketing and investor relations in the US and Canada.

Coast has also announced the promotion of Michael Welch to managing director and head of intermediary marketing and investor relations in North America, in addition to his existing role as investor relations liaison to the firm's distribution partners, registered investment adviser clients and other financial intermediaries. Both Holmes and Welch report to chief operating officer Roger Hartley and are based in the firm's office in Sausalito, California.

"In these times of extraordinary financial stress, Coast offers proven investment and risk management processes and a long record of innovation and expertise," Hartley says. "Tim and Mike will be instrumental in continuing to provide quality services to our existing and future clients as we expand our focus on institutional investors, intermediaries and investment advisers."

At Chicago-based Nuveen, Holmes helped develop and raise assets for various investment products including global multistrategy, currency and credit-based strategies. Previously he was managing member and chief operating officer of Ascendant Capital Partners, a boutique fund of hedge funds manager based in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, having previously been institutional sales director for John A. Levin & Co in New York and held investment roles at Robertson Stephens and Nicholas Applegate Capital Management.

Welch, who joined Coast in 2003, was previously a vice-president at Lazard Asset Management responsible for sales, client service and marketing to financial intermediaries. Earlier he was a financial adviser and sales manager at Merrill Lynch, focusing on the high net worth marketplace.

Established in 1991, Coast Asset Management manages more than USD5bn in assets for institutional and high net worth investors through core multi-manager fund of hedge funds portfolios and complementary investment strategies, including fixed-income arbitrage and structured products. The firm is majority owned by its management; private equity firm Summit Partners is also an investor.