MBO by Cresta recruitment staff

The buyout was led by Ben Dear and Nick Kerrison, who were directors of Cresta Resources and are now directors of Mantis. Kerrison said the London-based firm aimed to expand from its base in Europe into Asia and the US.

Cresta Resources was set up in 2000. Mantis, which has eight consultants, will operate in the same sectors including equities, fixed income, credit derivatives, prime broking, alternative investments, quantitative analytics, operations and information technology. Kerrison said it will also focus more on foreign exchange

Cresta retains a minority shareholding in Mantis, which will remain in itrs existing offices..

David Cotterell, the chief executive of Cresta Group, said the companies would share business opportunities. He said the buy-out allowed Cresta Group to focus on its core business of IT testing consultancy, including software for securitsation platforms.