The acquisition of Thames River by F&C is “almost a perfect fit,” said Ken Kinsey-Quick, head of multi-manager alternatives at the asset management company.

“There is no overlap on the client side,” he said, pointing out that Thames River is predominantly wholesale and F&C is mainly institutional.

Kinsey-Quick said no changes were expected and that the acquisition was “not a cost saving exercise”. He believed Thames River needed F&C as an institutional shareholder to take the asset manager to the next level over the next five to 10 years.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Kinsey-Quick also gave his opinions on the trend within Europe towards regulated funds, including Ucits III compliant hedge funds. He talked about the overall move towards greater regulation of hedge funds and specifically the European Union’s alternative investment fund managers (AIFM) directive and its expected impact on the industry.

As the co-fund manager of Thames River Warrior Fund, a opportunistic multi-manager fund of hedge funds, he explained his reasoning in actively seeking emerging managers as well as seeding them through the fund. He talked about his philosophy on the ability of smaller funds to achieve strong returns and shared some of his insights into how he spots the rising superstars of tomorrow’s hedge funds.

He also discussed how investor priorities following the financial crisis have changed and how this has affected the operation of the FoHFs at Thames River as well as sharing the main lessons he believes the hedge funds industry and investors should take away from the financial crisis.