Former UBS AG fund managers John Campbell and Jeremy Bendeich hope to raise as much as $170 million in two years for their Bennelong Avoca Emerging Leaders Fund.

Bendeich, 39, Avoca’s chief investment officer and the firm’s managing director, Campbell, 45, want to manage as much as $800 million in their small cap Australian equities fund.

Avoca, named after the beach north of Sydney, has four staff, many of whom are surfers. Bendeich and Campbell hold more than 50 per cent of Avoca’s equity.

Bennelong Funds Management, an investor in funds management boutiques, has the remaining equity. It is paying Avoca’s salaries, managing its administration and sales. It is an investor in Avoca’s fund.

Bendeich and Campbell had negotiated with Bennelong and UBS for two years before deciding to leave UBS to set up their own firm on May 4. On July 1 they began selling their fund.

“Our speciality is to pick stocks that can deliver out performance at a good risk, reward trade off,” says Bendeich.