Semonin leaves BNP to set up hedge fund

Lionel Semonin, global head of commodity investor derivatives at BNP Paribas in London, has left the bank to set up a commodity hedge fund in Singapore.

Semonin will be chief investment officer of the fund – called Four Elements Capital – and is one of five founding partners. Two of the other founders also come from BNP Paribas, while the remaining two join from JP Morgan.

Bertrand Egsbaek, formerly responsible for the commodity index book at BNP Paribas, will run execution and risk management, while Marion Lefevre, previously a quantitative strategy research analyst at the French bank, takes on responsibility for quantitative and agricultural specific fundamental research.

Joining from JP Morgan are Leila Kuhlenthal and Lei Shen. Kuhlenthal is responsible for performance attribution and investor relations, having formerly worked as a vice-president responsible for commodity investor marketing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at JP Morgan. Shen will take charge of macro and energy and metal fundamental research, having been a senior equity derivatives strategist for Asia ex-Japan at JP Morgan.

The fund will take a systematic approach to trading, using quantitative models based on both fundamental and market data, and will focus on multiple commodity sectors, including energy, metals and agriculture. The flagship fund is set to be launched in December.

Semonin joined BNP Paribas last June from JP Morgan, where he was London-based managing director and global head of commodity investor products.

See also: Index invasion

Banks launch new commodity indexes