About Us

Investment Focus

  • We design portfolios that seek positive returns independent of overall market direction.. This is distinct from traditional “relative return” investing, which aims simply to beat a benchmark.
  • We are best known for our expertise in global  markets, focusing on strategies with low correlation to equities and bonds. 
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Portfolio Roles

  • Historically the firm has acted as advisor to Citi from 2006 to 2018 and to funds with absolute return objectives, such as the Silver Pepper Long/Short Emerging Markets Currency Fund, where our role was to manage the  generation of Alpha.
  • The Managing Partners are  John Dean, the Founder and CIO. and Ross Taylor COO. Both partners have  substantial experience in the  currency, equity and commodity markets.

Portfolio Roles

The Alpha Blend Global Macro portfolio is built around three core modules: Global FX, Equity, and Gold. 

Management Team

Shaminul Islam

Founder and CEO, Elites Investments. Joined as Director- Institutional Relations. An experienced consultant and entrepreneur with over two decades in financial markets, he specialises in Institutional Investors growth and sovereign debt solutions in emerging countries. He advises governments and institutions on structuring and raising capital, designing scalable national sustainable development projects (eco-economics and social impact) aligned with green finance and ESG principles.

John Dean

Founder and CIO. Former Managing Director at Donaldson Lufkin and Jenrette in Europe, leading Currency and Commodity activity and the Investment Management business. He has structured FX Alpha and Global Macro portfolios for over 30 years. He advised Swiss Banking Corporation on the launch of its FX Alpha fund (later the UBS Currency Fund) and served as Citibank’s exclusive FX Alpha Consultant from 2006 to 2018.

Ross Taylor

Managing Partner. Held senior roles at Bank Julius Baer, Daiwa Securities America, Bear Stearns and Natixis, spanning institutional FX and global markets. He led FX market making, execution and risk management across liquidity provision and flow trading. He pioneered FX prime brokerage and helped drive the shift to automated electronic trading, improving client connectivity, governance and scalable execution across platforms.