A former senior investor within the merger arbitrage and credit fund at London-based alternatives manager GLG, Georges Gedeon, and Jean-Luc Biamonti, formerly of Goldman Sachs, have set up a new Paris-based hedge fund, Mereor Investments, according to the Financial Times. 

The fund’s strategy will be to focus on merger arbitrage and credit, and a source close to the fund is quoted by the publication as saying that the fund will offer “complete transparency and will be run on low leverage”.

Mr Gedeon - who left GLG this March - will manage investments, while Mr Biamonti, formerly head of Goldman Sachs’ European retail investment banking business, will manage client relations.

Meroer Investments comes at a time when closures, rather than new launches, dominate the hedge fund story. Those funds that do manage to launch at present face a difficult climate, as investors remain risk-averse and anxious about practices such as gating following the losses sustained in the 2008 financial crisis.

There were only 659 launches in 2008, compared with a peak of 2073 in 2005. But there are small signs of recovery. Launches rose in the second quarter of 2009 for the first time since 2005, and there have been some notable launches lately, including Tyrus Capital, with around $500 million in assets and Roc Capital management with around $1 billion in assets.  

The M&A sector is also seeing a revival following the 2007 collapse, and is currently viewed by traders as holding many opportunities for merger arbitrageurs.