Management Team

Structure

The management team of Blue Diagonal Capital sets the foundation for providing clients with risk-optimised solutions when managing their funds.

The team is led by the company's two founders: Lourens de Beer - Chief Executive Officer, and Demetrios Efstathiou - Chief Investment Officer.

The team commands an exceptional set of capabilities that includes:

  • the track-record of the founders in the financial and investment sector
     
  • complementary skills that span across multiple disciplines and business areas
     
  • an essential overlap in the knowledge and understanding of financial markets, especially of emerging and frontier markets

Management Team Profiles

Lourens de Beer - Chief Executive Officer

Lourens has over 25 years of experience working in emerging markets.

He started his career at Standard Merchant Bank in South Africa where he was responsible for derivative trading (fixed income, foreign exchange and equities).

He later worked at WestLB AG in London where he was Managing Director for Central and Eastern Europe, former CIS and Africa (including positions on the Supervisory Boards of the WestLB subsidiaries in the region).

Subsequently, Lourens moved to Ukraine where at Ukraine Securities Holdings he provided corporate finance and advisory services, including acting as advisor on several international bond issues.

Lourens is a holder of B.Ing. (Electronics) from the University of Pretoria in South Africa, a B.Com (Law) from the University of South Africa, and M.Com (Finance and Business Management) from Rand Afrikaans University in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is also holder of CySEC Advanced Certification and Global Compliance certificate in regards to the provision of investment services.
 

Demetrios Efstathiou - Chief Investment Officer

Demetris has over 20 years of experience working in emerging markets for financial institutions in London. He worked for 15 years as a trader and portfolio manager focused on EM credit, rates and currencies, followed by 5 years as head of EM strategy and research at two investment banks.

He headed Morgan Stanley's CEEMEA fixed income proprietary trading desk in London before becoming a portfolio manager at Argo Capital, a London based hedge fund. Subsequently, Demetris headed the cross-asset strategy team covering EM/CEEMEA credit, rates and currencies at RBS Global Markets, London, and later became head of the EM Trading Strategy at ICBC Standard Bank, London.

Demetris is a holder of a B.Eng. in Information Systems Engineering from Imperial College London, and of an MBA from London Business School.