Latitude Investment Management has nabbed Patrick Valentine (pictured) from Fidante Partners to build out its distribution to wealth management clients.
Valentine has long known Latitude founder Freddie Lait, who set up the firm in 2016 when it was spun out from Odey Asset Management, which retains its minority stake. Crispin Odey is an adviser to the firm and Lait previously ran the Odey Atlas fund.
The firm is focused on the £66m Latitude Horizon fund, which has returned 8.7% since launch in November 2016, according to FE Analytics. The Irish-domiciled fund has a 1% management charge with no performance fee.
In April, the Witan Investment Trust added £14m to the strategy, the first allocation as part of its 2.5% bucket for smaller investment mandates. The S&W Saltus Wealth fund also has a 5.7% allocation to the fund.
Valentine said: “The long-only absolute return Horizon Fund offers wealth managers a reasonably concentrated portfolio of high-quality stocks, with far lower risk due to the uncorrelated non-equity investments.
“We have seen many strategies protect capital in difficult times but then fail to make money or even lose money when equities have risen. Our goal is first and foremost to protect capital but crucially to achieve this without compromising performance.”
Latitude Horizon performance
| 1m | 3m | 6m | 1yr | |
| DMS Latitude Horizon | -1.41 | -1.79 | -2.53 | -1.50 |
| FO Mixed Asset sector Flexible TR in GB |
-2.16 | -3.43 | -2.49 | -4.20 |
Source: FE Analytics
Valentine worked at Fidante for nine years, primarily in capital fundraising for IPOs in the listed hedge fund and alternatives sector. He began his career at HSBC Investment Management before joining Close Asset Management, where he managed equity portfolios for private clients, trusts and charities.
Lait said the appointment was “another step forward as Latitude continues to build its client offering”.
“Patrick’s breadth of experience, particularly in the wealth management space, is a significant asset to the team and will help us as we look to build on our momentum in the coming year and beyond.”
In June 2018, Latitude confirmed it had hired Camilla Tamworth, a former Odey Asset Management employee, as an equity analyst.
