By Claire Makin
Key man risk has shot to the top of the due diligence agenda for hedge fund investors who want to participate in the industry’s benefits – but not its high profile blow-ups.
Enter Spirit Advisory Services, a specialist provider of investigation services, based in London. Founded in 2007 by Jerry Ohlson, ex-head of City of London Police Fraud Squad, Spirit has a 40-strong private network of professional fraud investigators around the world, and recently extended its expertise into the hedge fund arena.
Spying a gap in the market, in late 2011 Ohlson hired Greg Ohlson (his son) and Nigel Loweth to develop a due diligence investigation service for alternative investments at Spirit. Both men have many years experience in hedge funds and asset management at a string of blue-chip financial institutions, mainly in institutional sales.
So far, business has been brisk. Institutional...