CMS

Co-founders Cornelius Medley and Stefan Okhuysen lead the firm's investment committee. Both have been with CMS since its 1999 founding, and the firm has not disclosed a formal succession plan or the addition of external investment partners. Manager selection decisions are made collectively following on-site operational due diligence.

CMS relies on a network built over two decades of hedge fund allocation rather than consultant databases or cap-intro platforms. The firm's analysts typically spend multiple quarters embedded with prospective managers, reviewing trade tickets, risk reports, and operational workflows before making a recommendation. This process tends to surface emerging managers who are not yet broadly marketed to institutional allocators.

CMS is a pure allocator—it does not manage proprietary capital in internal hedge fund vehicles. All client capital is deployed through external managers selected via the firm's due diligence framework. This avoids the conflict of interest that can arise when an allocator also runs competing internal strategies.

CMS does not publish a fixed minimum track record, but its methodology emphasizes repeatable process over short-term performance. The firm has historically backed managers with as little as 18 months of audited returns when the investment team has prior institutional experience at a recognizable platform. Three-year track records are viewed skeptically if the alpha source cannot be isolated from broader market beta.

CMS primarily constructs bespoke separate accounts for institutional clients, though it has historically offered access to a commingled multi-manager vehicle for smaller allocators. The firm does not publicly disclose current vehicle structures or minimum account sizes.

CMS has historically avoided high-frequency trading and purely systematic strategies where edge decays rapidly and due diligence on code infrastructure requires different technical expertise. The firm's qualitative, people-focused evaluation process favors discretionary managers operating in liquid markets where skill can be assessed through trade-level interaction.

Research and portfolio management are centered in London. The San Francisco office covers West Coast US managers, the Singapore office leads Asia-Pacific sourcing, and the Frankfurt office supports European manager due diligence. Kingston upon Thames likely houses operations or middle-office functions, though CMS has not publicly detailed office-specific headcount.