Westrock Group, a financial services holding company, has appointed Douglas Sherman, Paul Krake and David Brown to form an institutional business.

The team will form the nucleus of Westrock Institutional Group, a new group subsidiary dedicated to serving the investment and trading needs of institutional clients, and Westrock Asset Management, which will be a separate entity that will provide asset management services.

'Westrock Institutional Group and Westrock Asset Management create strategic new pillars for the firm. We will provide financial services and advice to every facet of the investment process, from portfolio construction to trade execution,' says Donald H. Hunter, Jr., president and chief executive officer of Westrock Group. 'Doug, Paul and Dave are senior professionals with proven track records in serving the institutional marketplace. I believe that they will significantly expand our client base and make Westrock Institutional Group and Westrock Asset Management major contributors to the firm's profitability.'

Westrock Institutional Group will offer global trade execution services and customized quantitative research for clients. Westrock Asset Management will offer both traditional and customized alternative investment solutions through a transparent investment process. It is expected that the groups will become fully operational in the next several weeks.

Sherman will serve as head of Westrock Institutional Group and Krake will serve as head of Westrock Asset Management. Most recently, Sherman oversaw trading at an international hedge fund he helped found in 2000 with other international traders from SAC Capital. He joined SAC capital in 1998 as head trader - international desk.

Krake has 17 years of asset management and trading experience. He brings to Westrock management expertise from both buy-side and sell-side organisations and global relationships. Prior to joining Westrock, he was the founder and managing partner of Corus Capital Management, a multi-strategy hedge fund with offices in New York and Sydney.

Brown, head of institutional trading, brings over 15 years of trading experience to Westrock. Most recently he was a senior proprietary trader at the Abbey Bank subsidiary of Banco Santander, where he built a proprietary pairs trading desk.