Ex-Goldman partner, with a taste for fine wine, art and Star Trek, starts own hedge fund

A former Goldman Sachs partner and the ex-head of Latin American equities at Deutsche Bank have teamed up to launch a hedge fund targeted at investment opportunities in the region.

Serge Marquie, who has worked at Goldman Sachs for the past seven years – latterly as co-head of LatAm financing – left the bank to start New York-based NGC2770 Latam Capital Partners (NGC) along with Ignacio Arnau Bru, a Deutsche Bank veteran who was at the firm since 1997, most recently as head of Latin American equities.

Marquie also spent a significant period of time working for Deutsche Bank, from 1997-2007, latterly taking the role of global head of equity structuring, suggesting that the two men have worked together previously. He left Goldman Sachs in November, along with 30 other partners, according to a company filing with the SEC.

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NGC says that it focuses “exclusively on Latin American equity long/short investment and trading strategies” and combines “top-down regional analysis with bottom-up valuation scrutiny”.

A number of former Goldman Sachs staff have left to start hedge funds, although these have predominantly been the banks’ prop traders. It hasn’t always worked out well, with Benros Capital, set up by Daniele Benatoff, Ariel Roskis and three other traders from the bank, failing after less than two years of trading.  Meanwhile, other traders have joined more established firms – Mark Deniston, a managing director and head of sterling rate swaps at Goldman Sachs, joined Brevan Howard in May, while Yohann Freoa, an index options trader, left to join BlueCrest Capital, for example.

Marquie at least has some experience in entrepreneurship, having launched E-Cep – a company that sells ‘wine bonds’ allowing collectors to book luxury Californian wines from small production vineyards up to two years in advance.

He also has a PhD in Game Theory from Harvard University, gained in 1991, while Arnau Bru has a Bachelor of Business Administration from the European Business School in London.

Marquie is also on the board of directors for Brooklyn-based contemporary art programme, Residency Unlimited, and lists Star Trek among his interests.