Blue Oar Asset Management has hired Mercury Asset Management’s Adrian Akers to run its first hedge fund.

Akers will manage a European long/short equity offering, expected to launch in the third quarter, Citywire reports. At Mercury, he headed the charities department, and has also worked at Credit Suisse Asset Management and Wells Fargo.

BOAM, the new asset management division of investment bank Blue Oar, is also currently prepping a long-only British mid-cap fund for launch in May.