After resigning as analysts from Invesco and Cooper Investors respectively, Mark Landau and Raphael Lamm have teamed up to form an Australian equities boutique, L1 Capital.

After becoming friends during the five years they spent at their respective Melbourne-based managers, Lamm said that he and Landau decided a few months ago that it was “;time to build our own business”;. Currently getting licenced, Lamm said that the L1 fund (named for the principal’s surnames) would be long-only and concentrated, with 25 to 30 stocks drawn primarily from the ASX 100. “;We think it’s a good time to be launching a small, focussed team with no external involvement. We’ve invested our own money into this so it’s a real long-term commitment,”; Lamm said. After joining Invesco in 2002, Landau spent most of his tenure as a large cap analyst but joined the small cap team in late 2006. The two senior members of Invesco’s small cap team, Cynthia Jenkins and Ross Wilkinson, remain in place while a replacement for Landau is sought. One of five portfolio managers reporting to Peter Cooper at Cooper Investors, Lamm left in April and was replaced by Robert Palmer, who previously worked in equity capital markets for Bell Potter Securities. Lamm said the L1 principals would not contact their former clients until the business was licenced, hopefully in about two months’ time. The pair have hired an operations manager (after rejecting overtures from a number of boutique incubators) and have taken office space at 350 Collins St. Lamm said he had discussed his intentions with Cooper some months in advance, and that his departure was amicable. “;Peter came to my birthday party the other night,”; he said.