Sean Fenton, the highly regarded long/short manager at Tribeca Investment Partners, has left the firm and is talking to potential partners to set up on his own. He sold his shares in Tribeca last year.

Fenton, who launched Tribeca’s ‘alpha plus’ (130:30 or 120:20 long/short) fund in 2006, has been replaced by his co-portfolio manager, Jun Bei Lu, who has been at Tribeca all of that time, too, and became co-portfolio manager of the successful long/short fund last year.

Fenton said last week that Tribeca had been a great experience for him, having previously been a senior quant manager at AMP Capital, and he was grateful for the opportunity afforded him. It also gave him a taste for the independence of running a boutique.

Tribeca’s management shareholders, led by one of its founders, David Aylward, bought out the cornerstone shareholding of GSFM Funds Management last year. GSFM (the former Grant Samuel Funds Management) remains the distributor of Tribeca’s strategies primarily into the wholesale market.

Aylward said in a statement: “The fund is one of Australia’s top-performing equity long/short strategies over the last 13 years, combining a quantitative framework with a fundamental investment approach.  It will continue to be managed following the same investment process, with Jun Bei supported by Tribeca’s substantive in-house resources.

“Sean [Fenton] has played an integral role in the growth and success of Tribeca over the last 14 years. We are grateful for his significant contributions to the firm and wish him every success in his future endeavours.”

– G.B.