Kurt Baker hires Horner from Elliott Advisors

Kurt Baker's new platform for hedge funds, Cranmore Capital Advisers, has found a chief operating officer in the form of Ben Horner.

Horner was previously head of equity financing at hedge fund Elliott Advisors in Hong Kong, responsible for regulatory compliance and financing operations in Asia. He joins Baker, who was formerly Asian head of prime broking at Morgan Stanley before setting up Cranmore earlier in the summer.

One of Horner's first jobs at Cranmore is to hunt down spacious premises for the new firm, as they are in the throes of building their resources. The rumour is that Cranmore has found private equity backers who will invest in the firm and provide seeding capital for the hedge fund managers who join the platform.

There is no word yet on the identity of the fledgling managers, but Cranmore is believed to have shortlisted a number of investment teams.

The first offering is likely to be an Asian equity long/short value-based strategy that will launch in early 2010. Under consideration for the follow-up is an event and special situations fund.