Swiss asset manager GAM is making its first move into systematic trading after striking a deal to buy Cantab Capital Partners, the $4 billion hedge fund set up by former Goldman Sachs partner Ewan Kirk that manages two computer-trading funds.

Alexander Friedman, GAM's group chief executive officer, said in a June 29 statement that the Swiss firm, which had nearly $120 billion under management at the end of March, had been eyeing ways to tap into the fast-growing space of computer-trading hedge funds for the past 18 months.