PROVEN Investments, the new investment company founded by Peter Bunting, has injected youthful vigour into its senior management team with the appointments of Johann Heaven and Paul Simpson.

Heaven resigned from his vice president post at Scotia DBG on Friday and will, effective in February, take up the role of senior vice president investments at Proven. Simpson, who made a name for himself as a wealth advisor at Guardian Asset Management, resigned from that company last week and will now assume the position of assistant vice president, investor relations at Bunting’s new financial firm.

“Yohan Evans is the most renowned financial analyst in Jamaica, if not the Caribbean, and he will head the investment team,” Bunting informed Sunday Finance on Friday. “We have also strenghthened the team with the fastest upcoming wealth advisor in the industry, Paul Simpson. He’s someone I identified over a year ago.

“We expect to make further announcements shortly on additional directors and staffing,” Bunting added.

The pair represent the latest additions to a stellar cast of financial operators assembled by Bunting for the venture. Former managing director of NCB Capital Markets, Christopher Williams, will serve as Proven Investment’s chief executive officer, with the former minister of tourism Hugh Hart filling the role as chairman. Bunting and fellow former DB&G principal, Mark Golding, will have advisory strategic roles with the firm while Gary Sinclair, former DB&G chief operating officer, will act in a more substantive capacity.

“Our goal is to assemble the most capable team ever put together for a start up financial entity, so we are selecting the best in each of the functional areas,” said Bunting.

Proven Investments, which will focus primarily on US dollar and hard currency denominated instruments, will operate as an investment company that offers equity to investors primarily through shareholder equities. The company will collectively invests the money it receives from its investors, and each shareholder will share in the profits or losses in the proportion of their interests held in the company. The performance of company will be based on the performance of the securities and other assets that it owns and invests in.

The business model, which is unique to the local financial market, is being used as part of an effort to see that investors get better yields on their investments. Fashioned after Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, which has averaged an annual growth in book value of 20.3 per cent to its shareholders over the last 44 years, the rationale is that returns will go back straight into the pockets of shareholders as oppose to having to deal with operating costs associated with client issues typical at an investment management company.

“This is where the market is going…information is available on our webcast” said Bunting.

Proven Investments will be looking to raise between US$15 and US$20 million when it lists on the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) early in the new year.