BlueMountain bolsters capital-raising team

The $4bn credit specialist has added three employees to its existing marketing team of six. Two of the employees will be new to the firm, one based in New York and the other in London. Meanwhile, the third, Josh Drazen, will move into the group from BlueMountain's business management and strategy division, where he has been since 2007.

The firm's expanded marketing team will look to build assets by targeting pensions and endowments in 2010. BlueMountain is also considering working with a retail distribution platform in the future as the manager looks to increase assets beyond 2010.

Jay Bryant, managing director, said the inflow of assets back into the industry, particularly in Q4 2009, encouraged the firm to add marketing employees, with BlueMountain taking in new money in the fourth quarter of last year.

“The industry has more or less repaired itself over the course of 2009; most redemption pressures have abated, liquidity is better and many funds are experiencing inflows,” he said. “Things are looking up for firms that managed to stay in business.”

The most recent HFR data revealed that during Q4 2009, investors allocated $13.8bn into the industry.