Harwood Capital, the London-based boutique, has launched a new multi-manager business, headed by chief executives Alan Durrant and Richard Philbin.

The new business, called Harwood Multi-Manager, is supported by the existing compliance, operations and dealing teams already in place at Harwood and is subject to regulatory approval.

Durrant joins from The National Bank of Abu Dhabi. Before this he was head of asset management at Gulf Finance House and he has also held roles at Skandia and Hargreaves London.

Philbin started his career in 1994 with HNW private client portfolios before moving to Towry to build its investment management business. In 2001, he went to F&C Investments to head the multi-manager team and in 2008 he joined Architas Multi-Manager as chief investment officer.

Philbin will continue to advise the Elite Hasley Multi Strategy Portfolio and also the three new funds launched this month by Hasley

It is expected that further hires will be announced shortly.