NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Blackstone (NYSE:BX) today announced that David Ben-Ur and Atish Nigam have joined the firm in senior leadership roles in the Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (“BAAM”) business. David will be the Chief Investment Officer of BAAM’s hedge fund solutions business (“BPS”) and Atish will serve as the Chief Investment Officer of BAAM’s special situations investing business (“BSOF”).
In conjunction with Mr. Ben-Ur’s hire, Blackstone also announced BAAM agreed on preliminary terms to manage the assets of CAM Capital, Bruce Kovner’s family office.
Jon Gray, Blackstone President & COO, said: “These announcements demonstrate the tremendous momentum we have in BAAM. David and Atish are exceptional investors with great track records of managing money and delivering strong, risk-adjusted returns through market cycles. It is also an incredible honor to have the opportunity to manage the assets of CAM Capital, as Bruce is a pioneer in the hedge fund industry.”
Joe Dowling, Blackstone Global Head of BAAM, said: “David and Atish will be key leaders in BAAM and are excellent additions to the team. Their experience and networks will help us make better investments and support more managers across asset classes and investing styles. This is very positive news for Blackstone and our investors.”
David Ben-Ur, Chief Investment Officer of the BPS platform, said: “With the firm’s unique scale and expertise, I look forward to working with the team to continue to drive BAAM’s leadership in the hedge fund solutions market. BPS is the core business within BAAM and exemplifies how hedge fund managers can deliver attractive returns and the important role these strategies play in a balanced investment portfolio.”
Atish Nigam, Chief Investment Officer of BSOF, said: “I am excited to join the team and help drive new investment ideas to deliver strong absolute returns for BSOF and its investors. I look forward to working with and learning from Joe and the many other talented members of the BAAM team.”
BPS was launched in 1990 and today is the largest discretionary allocator to hedge funds in the world managing approximately $60 billion of assets (out of BAAM’s $81 billion total). BPS includes both a commingled fund business and a customized solutions business.
The BSOF platform was launched in 2011 and has over $13 billion of assets, including customized, commingled and co-investment solutions.
Mr. Ben-Ur joins from CAM Capital, where he served as Chief Investment Officer, and managed assets exclusively for entities related to Mr. Bruce Kovner and its senior employees. He also served as Chief Investment Officer of The Kovner Foundation, which manages the personal philanthropy of the Kovner family. Prior to joining CAM Capital, he was a Partner and Co-Chief Investment Officer at Corbin Capital Partners. He has previously worked at Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Fidelity Management & Research Company. Mr. Ben-Ur received an MPP in International Trade and Finance from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and BA from Tufts University where he graduated magna cum laude.
Mr. Nigam joins from Appaloosa Management, an investment firm run by Mr. David Tepper, where he was a senior analyst and investor for nearly a decade. At Appaloosa, he focused on combining a top-down world-view with bottom-up, independent, fundamental analysis to identify long-term investment theses across asset classes and capital structures. Mr. Nigam has previous experience at SAC Capital, FTV Capital and McKinsey & Company. He received an MBA from Harvard University, undergraduate and masters degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and is a CFA Charterholder.
Mr. Ben-Ur and Mr. Nigam will start at the firm at the beginning of 2022.
About Blackstone
Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. We seek to create positive economic impact and long-term value for our investors, the companies we invest in, and the communities in which we work. We do this by using extraordinary people and flexible capital to help companies solve problems. Our $731 billion in assets under management include investment vehicles focused on private equity, real estate, public debt and equity, life sciences, growth equity, opportunistic, non-investment grade credit, real assets and secondary funds, all on a global basis. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow Blackstone on Twitter @Blackstone.
