GERMANY - Faros Consulting, a new German investment advisor for institutional clients, has poached a senior executive from rival FERI.

As of October 1, Frank Umlauf has joined Faros as its fourth partner, where he, along with two other partners, is responsible for institutional fund selection as well as risk management.

Prior to joining Faros, the 37-year-old Umlauf was at FERI where he had a similar role.

Umlauf told IPE that in his new role, his focus would be on alternative investments, notably hedge funds and private equity funds. He said he decided to join Faros “because one rarely gets such an ideal opportunity to become independent.”

As one of Faros’ four partners, Umlauf has invested his own money in the venture.

Flanking Umlauf at Faros are Rainer Buth, a partner in charge of equity fund selection and Eberhard von Alten, a partner in charge of bond fund selection. Buth is a former colleague of Umlauf’s at FERI, while von Alten was a managing director at DZ Capital Management.

Meanwhile, FERI said it was scrambling to find a replacement for Umlauf, adding that it aimed to find one by the end of this year. FERI is Germany’s leading investment advisor for institutional clients, overseeing 200 billion euros in assets.

Faros has got off to a good start since Buth and Uwe Rieken, the advisor’s fourth partner responsible for communications, launched the venture a year ago.

According to Rieken, Faros has already won five institutional clients, including VBL, a huge pension fund for German state and federal employees.

Rieken said that together, these clients had entrusted Faros with around 9.2 billion euros in assets.

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