Formerly Gartmore’s star trader, Rambourg was under investigation by the Financial Services Authority for nearly a year for alleged breaches of internal rules.
While he was cleared of any offences by the firm itself early on, his subsequent resignation to focus on the regulator’s investigation set the wheels in motion for Gartmore’s demise.
Rambourg was cleared of any wrongdoing by the FSA a full nine months later.
According to the Financial Times, Rambourg is now awaiting final approval from France’s regulator the Autorité des Marchés for his new venture.
He had previously considered both London and Geneva as a home for the business, but since the FSA’s investigation is unable to practice trading in the UK. In addition, he reportedly has family connections in France as he is French-Canadian.
Verrazzano Capital will have four other partners, the FT said: the head of Goldman Sachs’ Delta One trading division, Karim Moussalem, the founder of Lyxor Asset Management, Murielle Maman, a senior investment officer at UBS’ hedge fund division, Tim Williams and former Gartmore senior analyst, Tomas Pinto. A further ten employees have been recruited for trading operations.
At Gartmore, Rambourg ran the £5.5bn hedge fund business alongside Roger Guy. The pair were widely regarded as the drivers of Gartmore’s success and Rambourg’s resignation, which was quickly followed by Guy’s, led to heavy share selling as investors lost confidence in the firm.
This chain of events eventually led to Gartmore’s takeover by Henderson.
