Illiquidx

COMPANY NEWS >> DISTRESSED ILLIQUID BOUTIQUE CONTINUES TO BUILD WITH NEW HIRES

London-based independent financial services boutique IlliquidX has completed three new hires in support of its continued growth. The company specialises in trading distressed assets and has created an online secondary market platform that allows participants to post and obtain information on highly illiquid types of debt.

Dimitris Athanassopoulos advises and executes on distressed debt in fixed income, specialising in cash and synthetic CDOs. Previously he worked for the last five years at Citi as a structurer on the structured credit desk where he was responsible for originating, pricing and executing trades with several European real money and hedge fund accounts. Prior to that, Athanassopoulos worked on the equity derivatives desk of Societe Generale dealing single name equity options for UK clients.

Taro Goto advises and executes on stressed and distressed situations in the fixed-income markets. He has held various roles in London since 2003, including trading subordinated bank capital, industrial corporate bonds and CDS, and financial CDS on the flow credit trading desks of Morgan Stanley, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Merrill Lynch. Goto also spent two years as a proprietary trader on the buy-side at Lehman Global Principal Strategies, focusing on financials and high-yield bonds and CDS. He began his career as an asset-swap trader at Morgan Stanley in Tokyo, and was an active participant in the development of the CDS market in Japan.

Attila Cetin sources stressed and distressed assets and NPLs with a particular focus on German speaking countries. His remit includes research and valuation for restructuring and workout of NPLs and real estate loans, as well as for trade claims and bank debt transactions. Previously he worked at Morgan Stanley in London, where he was responsible for the workouts and restructuring of corporate NPLs, bonds and real estate loans in the pan-European portfolio, and for building a distressed debt effort at a subsidiary bank in Rome. Prior to that, he was at Lonestar/Hudson in Frankfurt as a workout specialist in distressed asset management. Beforehand he worked at GE Capital in Cologne as a workout specialist in corporate workout/insolvency.

IlliquidX was founded by former Morgan Stanley and HSBC trader Celestino Amore. He focuses on advisory and trading in the high yield and distressed space.

The firm uses a hybrid system of voice trading and posting on its proprietary online platform. This aims to address problems arising from the credit market’s recent excesses by enabling competitive auctions where, for example, administrators and fund managers are able to liquidate portfolios for which there are limited secondary markets.