Octavian Advisors, a global special situations manager that was launched on March 7, is seeking to hire three people for its research team, a trader and a cfo over the next few months. The research team, consisting of senior and junior people, will analyze opportunities and help generate ideas, said Richard Hurowitz, chairman and cio. Senior analysts should have at least five years experience on the buy side. Junior researchers could come from the buy side, investment banking or consulting. "Overall we are trying to attract people who have excelled in their fields and who have expertise in international investing or have international backgrounds," he said. New York-based Octavian is seeking a trader with several years of event-driven and risk arbitrage experience. The firm is also seeking someone to take on either a cfo or controller role, to run accounting and the infrastructure of the business.

Octavian doesn't plan to hire a marketer because it will first concentrate on managing the $100 million seed capital invested by Reservoir Capital Group, a private investment firm that is partnering with Octavian. Hurowitz declined to comment on when the firm will open its doors to external clients. Octavian will focus on opportunities in Latin America, Europe and Asia. "We are looking for situations that are off the radar screen with bigger firms," he said. These markets are less efficient, which provides more opportunity to finding the right niches. Hurowitz said the firm will invest in the event-driven space, such as merger arbitrage and distressed debt. "We potentially see a big distressed cycle coming," he said. "A higher number of bankruptcies creates more investment opportunities." Octavian will also seek to take advantage of hostile takeovers that have been and will continue to occur in Europe.