Capital Marking 25 years


Aspect


By HAMLIN LOVELL FIRST PUBLISHED IN MAY 2023


n 1997 the founders of Aspect Capital – Anthony Todd, Martin Lueck and Eugene Lambert – agreed on their philosophy, culture and ambitions to offer trend following strategies to institutional investors, but they struggled to agree on a name for the firm, since many potential monickers were not available. Inspiration came from Lambert’s gliding hobby. “The aspect ratio of a wing measures the ratio of the square of its wingspan to the area of the wing. A higher aspect ratio creates a more stable aeroplane, and crucially results in a higher lift to drag ratio, which is analogous to risk-adjusted


measures of investment returns, such as Sharpe ratios,” says Lueck, Research Director. Lambert, who remains an investor in Aspect’s strategies, left the firm in 2004 to spend more time gliding, travelling and writing prize-winning fiction.


Aspect’s first year saw the firm traverse its highest and lowest altitude in terms of confidence. “The worst moment came first when we set up the business in 1997. We were full of enthusiasm, optimism and confidence, and had a great story to tell about working together since the early 1980s, building AHL and wanting to offer diversifying strategies to institutions. However, over the course of one year – from September 1997 to September 1998 – we held 62 meetings with institutions and private equity firms and raised zero capital. This partly reflected the lack of enthusiasm for alternative investments during the late 1990s TMT boom,” recalls Todd, Aspect’s CEO.


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